U.S. and Afghan troops have captured "semi-senior" terrorist leaders along the border with Pakistan, an Afghan government spokesman told The Associated Press on Friday. The news came as border officials said Pakistan appeared to have blocked roads leading from the showdown in the South Waziristan tribal area, where Pakistani officials said forces had trapped al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri in a massive four-day offensive. The arrests were made somewhere in Afghanistan’s lawless border provinces, Jawed Ludin, a spokesman for President Hamid Karzai, told the AP. He said it was unclear if those detained had fled the battle in Pakistan and declined to give any details of who might be in custody. "In recent days, there have been arrests, there have been encounters," Ludin said. "Some of the arrests have included semi-senior leadership within the terrorist elements on the Afghan side, possibly with strong links to al-Qaida."
The Afghan government considers holdouts from the ousted Taliban regime terrorists, but Ludin declined to give details or comment on their nationality. U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Bryan Hilferty said he did not know of any such arrests in the last few days, though several members of the Taliban had been detained in recent weeks. None was a top leader, Hilferty said. |