Investigators have found detailed maps of Pakistan's major cities from the two foreign militants arrested last week, indicating they were planning to carry out terrorist attacks with the help of their local supporters, a senior intelligence official said yesterday.

Detailed maps of Karachi, Hyderabad, Lahore, and Islamabad were found in the possession of the two militants who were arrested in the restive port city of Karachi after a shootout on Thursday, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The men moved to Pakistan from Afghanistan in the wake of the U.S.-led crackdown on the remnants of Al Qaida and the Afghan Taliban, police officials said.

The men are considered members of an Al Qaida cell smashed by Pakistani security forces in September. The cell leader Ramzi bin Al Shibah along with four other have already been handed over to the United States.

Pakistani officials say that once investigations are complete, these two militants could also be handed over to Washington. The official said the men were arrested on a tip-off from U.S. authorities, which traced their satellite telephone calls.

They were sharing a rented house with a Pakistani family, who was freed by the police after a few hours of interrogation. A member of the Pakistani family is a key official of the Jamaat-e-Islami, a leading party in the pro-Taliban Islamic alliance, Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal.

Pakistani officials say that the support by the local militants to the Al Qaida and the Taliban men have made their task difficult as after every fresh raid and arrest they hold a series of demonstrations protesting their government's support to the U.S.

Militants have carried out a series of terrorist attacks in major cities targeting Westerners, religious minorities and government officials in an attempt to undermine Islamabad's role in the war against terrorism.