Pakistan detains 25 in London bombing probe

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security forces detained 25 suspected Islamist militants in a series of raids overnight linked to investigations into the July 7 bomb attacks in London, officials said on Tuesday.

The latest detentions were made in an overnight crackdown in the most populous province, Punjab, and included members of outlawed Islamist groups.

"They are being questioned for links with any of the bombers," an official of the provincial government told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The official said security agencies had detained 25 suspects in the cities of Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan, Faisalabad and Khushab.

A senior security official in Punjab said he expected that questioning of a handful of other suspects detained in recent days in the provincial capital, Lahore, would confirm ties to the London bombers.

"We suspect two or three of the detained (from Lahore) had links with the bombers. We are interrogating them intensively. We hope we will come out with some positive outcome shortly," he said.

The death toll from the London underground train and bus bombings stood on Monday at 56.

Three of the four bombers were young British Muslims of Pakistani descent, and officials say all of them entered Pakistan through the southern city of Karachi last year. The fourth attacker was a Jamaican-born Briton.

- REUTERS