Police and intelligence agents raided a suspected terrorist hideout in eastern Pakistan on Sunday, arresting at least 12 people after a prolonged gun battle, officials said.
At least four of those arrested in the raid in the Punjab province town of Gujrat were foreigners, said Saadatullah Khan, the provincial police chief.
Security forces returned fire after they were attacked from inside the home and the standoff lasted for about six hours, Khan said.
It was not clear what the suspects were accused of doing, or what group they may belong to.
“This will come to the surface once our investigations are completed,” Khan told The Associated Press. He had no details on where the foreigners were from.
Pakistan is an ally of the United States in the campaign against terrorism. It has handed over more than 500 al-Qaida suspects to the Americans since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States.
An official at the Interior Ministry in the capital Islamabad confirmed the arrests, saying one of the suspects was wounded in the shootout.
Officials were questioning the suspects but none appeared to be senior terrorist figures, said Abdul Rauf Chaudhry, a spokesman for the ministry.
An intelligence official in Lahore, speaking on condition of anonymity, said an Uzbek woman was among the suspects.
He said a terror suspect already in custody accompanied intelligence agents. That man was not identified.
