Monday, July 18 2005 15:57 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Islamabad: Pakistan has launched investigations into the activities of Islamic seminaries run by banned militant outfits Jaish-e-Muhammad and Lashkar-e- Toiba in connection with the London bombings after Britain provided details of calls made by some bombers to Pakistan.

Staff of over a dozen seminaries in the rural areas of Islamabad and Rawalpindi have been questioned as part of the probe into the London bomb blasts, District Police Officer (DPO) Rawalpindi, Saood Aziz said.

In a related development, a state of high vigil has been declared at airports in the country and security has been enhanced at churches in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi to ensure security of British diplomats and nationals based in Islamabad and Rawalpindi

The madrasas being run by Jaish and Lashkar, both banned by President Pervez Musharraf, were among the first to be have been visited by intelligence officials in connection with the London bombings.

Pakistan has officially 7,300 madrasas while unofficially the list runs into over 15,000.

The British government has given information related to a list of telephone calls made by Pakistani origin Shehjad Tanveer, suspected to have been involved in the London bombings along with Muhammad Siddique Khan and Hasib Hussain, an official was quoted as saying by local daily The News.

Tanveer, 22 during his trips to Pakistan over the past two years visited Fasalabad and Lahore. Khan and Hussain also visited Pakistan separately.

Two of the four suspected detained by Pakistan police for questioning in this regard were from Jaish.

On intelligence from London that a list of telephone calls were made from the homes of the alleged bombers to different places in Pakistan, the official said "Some of those were found closed permanently for quite some time, while some are being probed more thoroughly now".

In another development, Pakistani officials questioned a businessman whose mobile telephone number was listed on the phone records of one of the alleged London suicide bombers.

The telephone number of the unidentified businessman was included in the mobile phone records of one of the suspects in London bombings.

Police questioned the businessman near Sialkot yesterday but he did not provide a full accounting of the telephone link with the alleged bomber, the official said.

Using the data from British police, Pakistani authorities are looking into the backgrounds of the people who are believed to have received calls from the suspects, or to have made calls to them, according to the intelligence official.

Pakistan's Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said Pakistan has not arrested anyone so far in connection with the London bombings but only exchanged information being sought by British investigators.

"We have nothing to do with the arrests of London blasts culprits and have not received any lists of accused from the British government," he told The Nation.