KOHAT, Jan 1: A team of UN observers accompanied by senior military officials from Peshawar visited on Monday the Kohat jail, where 139 Al-Qaeda members have been detained, to apprise themselves of the progress made in obtaining information regarding the terrorist network in light of the interrogation being carried out by three different teams, well-placed sources told Dawn here on Tuesday.

Local military authorities, when contacted, refused to make any comments with regard to the visit.

However, they said senior military officials from Peshawar had visited the jail and met the Al-Qaeda men and the military personnel stationed there to have a first-hand information about the process of investigation and to review security measures.

The sources said the military officials and the United Nations team had arrived in Kohat at the same time and had left at 4.10pm.

Nobody was allowed to come near the jail building during the visit of the UN team. Even car parking close to the walls of the prison and its main gates was prohibited.

A security guard confirmed that the UN team was inside the jail with the Al-Qaeda members.

REID’S PICTURE SHOWN: The Al-Qaeda members were shown on Tuesday the photograph of Richard Reid, who was arrested last week on board a Paris-to-Miami United States commercial flight 63, while he was trying to detonate explosives hidden in his shoes, well-placed sources told Dawn on Monday.

The teams, interrogating the Al-Qaeda men, showed the detainees the photograph of Reid, 28-year-old British, and asked them whether they had seen him before.

More details about the findings of the inquiry could not be ascertained as this particular case is being handled by the US team alone.

The officials concerned said the FBI and Pakistan intelligence authorities had their own objectives and both were interrogating the Al-Qaeda men from totally different angles.