Islamabad: Pakistan has denied that the cook or the driver of Osama bin Laden was arrested during raids on madrasas in Islamabad for the past few days, even as two suspected al-Qaeda militants were arrested in Peshawar yesterday (Aug 19, 2004).

Reacting to reports in the media that Osama's cook or driver has been held, Pakistan Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said nobody was arrested in the raids on two madrasas.

"The reports were baseless and nobody was taken into custody," he was quoted in the media as saying.

While one report said Osama's driver was held another newspaper said the fugitive's cook, who was residing in the madrasa for the past two years, was taken into custody and was being interrogated.

In another development, police arrested two al-Qaeda militants of Arab origin in Northwestern city of Peshawar yesterday after a gunbattle.

The two attacked police with hand grenades. The security personnel opened fire at their vehicle as it tried to enter into premises of Madressah Darul Furqan-ul-Kareem in the city.

One of the militants was injured and taken into custody from the seminary while the other, who had escaped from there, was later arrested from Hayatabad.

The second man is said to be an Iraqi national while the injured suspect was identified as Mohammad Fauzi, an Algerian national and said to be in his early 30s.

Fauzi suffered a bullet wound in his neck and was treated at the Hayatabad Medical Complex.