Senior al-Qaida member is arrested

KABUL, Afghanistan — U.S. and Afghan forces have arrested a senior al-Qaida member in southeastern Afghanistan, a provincial police chief said Monday, confirming a report last week by coalition officials.

The troops detained four Afghans, an Arab and a Pakistani on Thursday in the city of Khost, said Mohammad Ayub, the provincial police chief.

Ayub said he could not confirm a report in the Pakistani daily, The News, that one of the detainees was Abu Nasir al-Qahtani, one of four Arab al-Qaida operatives who escaped from the U.S. prison in Bagram in July 2005.

"What I can tell you is that he is an important al-Qaida member," Ayub said.

U.S. military spokesman Lt. Col. Paul Fitzpatrick on Monday declined to identify or confirm the name of the detainee.

Extremists tried to acquire weapons

LONDON — Islamic extremists, including members of al-Qaida, have tried to acquire chemical or radiological weapons to use in attacks against Britain and other Western targets, a senior British diplomat said Monday.

The warning followed an acknowledgment last week by Britain's domestic spy chief, Dame Eliza Manningham-Buller, that authorities are tracking almost 30 terrorist plots involving 1,600 people.

Britain's Foreign Office has evidence of efforts by the terror groups to purchase chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear materials for use in attacks, the diplomat said.

Also

Indian police with dogs searched hundreds of thousands of Bombay train commuters during the evening rush hour Monday as part of a security drill to monitor the city's ability to deal with terror threats. Bombay's train network was targeted July 11 when seven bombs exploded on crowded commuter trains, killing more than 200 people. Thirteen men have been arrested in the bombings.