Alsarah, a member of the hip-hop troupe FEW Collective, performs during a concert organised by the US embassy in Islamabad November 14, 2011.—Reuters

ISLAMABAD: Pakistani security officials on Wednesday briefly detained a visiting US hip-hop troupe, accusing a performer of taking sensitive photographs in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, the embassy said.

The six members of FEW Collective, a US officer, Pakistani staff from the embassy and Pakistani musicians were detained for around an hour on a military base in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, a spokesman told AFP.

The Chicago-based group is in Pakistan at the invitation of the US embassy and performed a concert Tuesday as part of a cultural exchange programme in a country fraught with anti-Americanism.

“While one of the performers may have taken a photograph while travelling in an embassy vehicle on a public road, no sensitive installations were visible from the vehicle,” said the US embassy.

“The performer was not aware of restrictions placed on photography in or near the cantonment, and had no intention of taking photographs of sensitive Pakistani government or military installations,” it added.

Pakistani military officials were not immediately reachable for comment.