Pakistan Foreign Ministry Says Two Americans Detained Along Border

June 17, 2002
By MUNIR AHMAD, Associated Press Writer

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Two young men carrying U.S. passports were among several people detained after trying to enter this country from Afghanistan, the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said Monday.

"Some people have been detained by our agencies when they were trying to cross over from Afghanistan into our tribal areas. I was told two of them were American passport holders," Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said.

Khan refused to say more about the case except to add that investigations were still underway.

However, a Pakistani intelligence officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the two young men were of Afghan origin and were detained about six weeks ago.

A senior official of the Interior Ministry, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said FBI agents had questioned the two along with several other suspected Islamic militants arrested trying to enter Pakistan.

In Washington. U.S. officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Pakistanis had captured several Chinese nationals who were suspected of being Islamic extremists. The official declined to provide details. The Chinese citizens are believed to be Uighurs, a Turkic ethnic group in western China, most of whom are Muslims.

Pakistani authorities strengthened controls along the Afghan border last year to try to intercept al-Qaida and Taliban fugitives trying to escape U.S. military attacks.

In an interview with Cables News Network, Pakistani Interior Ministry official Tasneem Noorani said authorities were unsure of the two had links to al-Qaida.

"Initially these people were apprehended because of their lack of proper documentation," Noorani said.

Concern over the possibility of American citizens in al-Qaida ranks increased after the arrest in Chicago last month of Jose Padilla, who U.S. authorities said trained in Afghanistan and planned to explode a radioactive "dirty bomb" within the United States.

U.S. authorities fear that al-Qaida operatives with U.S. passports could enter the United States freely and with minimal controls.

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