Pakistani police arrested at least two foreign militants after a grenade and gun battle in Karachi on Thursday, but officials said it was too early to say if they were members of the shadowy al Qaeda group. A senior police officer said one of the men was apparently a Yemeni national and the other an Egyptian. They had been hiding in a house on the outskirts of Karachi.
Senior interior ministry official Brigadier Javed Cheema said investigations were underway but it was still too early to establish any link with the al Qaeda network of Saudi-born militant Osama bin Laden.

Hundreds of members al-Qaeda members blamed for the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States are believed to have taken refuge in Pakistan after the collapse of their Taliban allies in neighboring Afghanistan in late 2001.

Scores could be in Karachi, an over-crowded city of more than 12 million people, police says.

The provincial government in Karachi said the raid followed a tip off that foreigners were acting suspiciously. It said the men were being interrogated by intelligence agencies.

Witnesses said they saw police arresting at least four men, but one managed to flee despite a bullet wound.

ISLAMIC PARTY SLAMS ARRESTS

Sarfraz Ahmed, spokesman of the Islamic Jamaat-e-Islami party, said police had also arrested seven Pakistanis in the raid, including a former international field hockey player Shahid Ali Khan, the husband of a Jamaat official.

He said Khan, his two sons; a daughter, her infant child, a nephew and a female domestic servant were also detained. His wife was away at the time.

Ghafoor Ahmed, deputy chief of the Jamaat-e-Islami, said Khan and his family lived at the ground level, while the foreigners were on an upper floor.

"We condemn these arrests. Such incidents will only create unrest," said Ahmed, whose party is a key member of a conservative Islamic alliance, the Muttahida Majlis-e-Amal, which did unexpectedly well in Pakistan's October elections.

However, the inspector general of Sindh province police, Syed Kamal Shah, denied any Pakistanis were arrested. "Only two foreign militants were arrested," he said.

In recent months, police have arrested several militants, including senior al Qaeda operatives, opposed to Islamabad's policy of siding with the United States in its war against the Taliban and their al Qaeda supporters in Afghanistan.

Pakistan says it has captured over 400 militants in supporting the U.S.-led war on terror.

But a police investigator said scores of Taliban and al Qaeda members were thought to be still hiding in Karachi, protected by Pakistani supporters. "It's a multi-ethnic port city. It's easy to hide here and remain anonymous," he said.

Suspected Islamic militants have carried out deadly attacks in Pakistan targeting Westerners, Christians and government officials in the past year.

On June 14, extremists blew up a car packed with explosives outside the U.S. Consulate in Karachi, killing 12 Pakistanis. On May 8, at least 11 French technicians and two Pakistanis were killed in a similar attack outside the city's Sheraton Hotel.

FBI HELP

In September, several Arab nationals were arrested after a fierce gun battle.

One was later identified as a key al-Qaeda suspect, Ramzi Binalshibh, who was handed over to the United States.
Since then, Pakistani authorities have stepped up the search-and-arrest campaign.

With the help of the FBI, they have detained more than 20 Pakistani and Arab nationals on suspicion of having links with al-Qaeda.

The biggest catch so far was the arrest in March of al-Qaeda's suspected financier, Abu Zubaydah, who was taken into custody in the central city of Faisalabad.

PHOTO CAPTION

Pakistani police arrested at least two foreign militants after a grenade and gun battle in Karachi on Thursday, but officials said it was too early to say if they were members of the shadowy al Qaeda group. In September, several Arab nationals were arrested after a fierce gun battle. One was later identified as a key al-Qaeda suspect, Ramzi Binalshibh, (photo) who was handed over to the United S