BBC News Online: World: Africa

Somalis arrest 'terror suspects'

Osama Bin Laden has some support in Mogadishu

The arrests follow weeks of speculation that Somalia may be one of the next targets in the United States-led war on terror.

A spokesman for the country's transitional government told the BBC that a number of people had been arrested, but he could not confirm they were all foreigners.

B>Significant

Police commander Colonel Abdi Hassan Awale told Reuters news agency the men were arrested three days ago and have been detained pending investigations into possible links with Osama Bin Laden and the al-Qaeda network.

The BBC's East Africa correspondent, Ishbel Matheson, says there are also reports that some may be Turkish.

Our correspondent says these arrests are significant.

She says that they are "almost certainly a consequence of pressure from the Americans".

They have been arrested by an anti-terrorist task force, which was set up after the 11 September attacks.

Rebuked

The US Government recently described Somalia as a place where terrorists could operate.

Germany's Defence Minister, Rudolf Scharping, was this week criticised by the United States for reportedly saying that Somalia was about to be attacked by the US.

"Anybody who rules out Somalia is a fool. It is not a question of 'if' but of 'how' and 'when'," Mr Scharping said in the remarks attributed to him.

Rival militia leaders have accused Somalia's transitional government of being supported by Islamic extremists.

Those accusations have been strongly denied by Somalia's President Abdulkassim Salat Hassan.