Islamabad: Pakistani authorities on April 3 arrested two suspected operatives of the al-Qaida terror network in North West Peshawar close to the Afghan border.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told the official media that al-Qaida operatives, Abdullah and Abdul Qarim were arrested as a part of the ongoing crackdown against international terrorism.

The detained men also were reportedly responsible for the killing of a police constable in Pakistan, he said.

Officials in Peshawar said both the suspects came from Middle Eastern countries, but spoke fluent Pashto and Dari, the two common languages of Afghanistan.

The arrest followed the detention of a woman of Pakistani origin in Karachi recently.

Earlier, Pakistan officials in association with Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) officials have captured Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, considered to be a top al- Qaida operative who recently met Osama bin Laden.

He was subsequently handed over to FBI for custody.

PTI