Pakistan arrests militant leader

The trio were seized in Kabul

Pakistan has arrested the head of a militant Islamic group wanted in connection with the kidnapping of three UN workers in Afghanistan.

Syed Akbar Agha, from a group that calls itself the Army of Muslims, was captured in a raid on an appartment block in the southern city of Karachi.

The UN workers were captured in the Afghan capital, Kabul, in October, but were released nearly a month later.

They had been helping to organise October's presidential elections.

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Afghanistan

Afghan officials say no deal was done to free Annetta Flanigan from Northern Ireland, Angelito Nayan from the Philippines and Shqipe Habibi from Kosovo.

The Army of Muslims - Jaish-e-Muslimeen (JM) - is believed to be a splinter faction of the Taleban, Afghanistan's hard-line former ruling group.

Raid

The BBC's Zafar Abbas in Islamabad says it is not clear what led to the arrest.

But he says there are unconfirmed reports that a former member of the militant group tipped off security services, after disagreeing with Mr Agha about a ransom allegedly received for the release of the trio.

Army of Muslims

Mr Agha has told interrogators he slipped across the border into south-western Pakistan, an official told AFP news agency.

The suspect was arrested in a raid on an apartment block in Karachi, where he had been hiding along with his family.

Information Minister Rashid Ahmed said family members who were with him were not arrested.

He was still with Pakistani security forces and it was unlikely he would be handed over to Afghanistan, the minister added.

The Pakistani authorities have described the arrest as a significant breakthrough, but have declined to give further details, our correspondent reports.

Mr Agha commanded Taleban forces in the Maidan-Shahr area, west of Kabul, for 11 months in the mid-1990s.

He founded the Army of Muslims in December 2001, soon after the regime fell.

But he then fell out with the movement's supreme leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.