Detainees' links with blast under probe

As the transfer of key Al Qaida suspect Ramzi bin Al Shaibah was apparently kept secret even from top Pakistani officials, Pakistani intelligence agents are investigating possible links between some of the detainees and a May 8 suicide bombing that killed 11 French naval engineers and three Pakistanis in Karachi.

Earlier yesterday Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider said that while Pakistan would hand over the suspects, "they have to be produced before a magistrate and if he is satisfied with legalities the extradition would take place."

The interior ministry has said a total of 12 people were held in at least two separate raids in Karachi last week. They have been detained in an army facility near the city's international airport.

A satellite telephone call intercepted by the FBI prompted the raids and FBI agents had taken the lead in questioning bin Al Shaibah and other detainees.

Pakistani intelligence officials had been told to work "in accordance with guidelines they receive from the Americans," a Pakistani intelligence official had said.

"These FBI officials are interrogating the suspects according to their methods and even not allowing Pakistani intelligence to interfere. The Pakistanis are supposed to extract maximum information from the low-key suspects and convey it to the FBI men," the official said at the time.

Sources said explosives found in one apartment were similar to those used in that bombing. "It is a high-intensity explosive and we believe it matches the explosives used to kill the Frenchmen," one source said.

Intelligence sources also said police found an artificial leg in one of the apartments last Wednesday.

They said the discovery confirms information that a one-legged Arabic-speaking man had been meeting extremists in Karachi and urging them to mount suicide attacks against Westerners.