The Pakistani military says security forces have arrested a militant accused of training suicide bombers in northwestern Swat Valley.
A military spokesman, Colonel Akhtar Abbas, said Nasim Shah, also know as Abu Faraj, is a close associate of Swat Taliban chief Maulana Fazlullah. The spokesman said Shah is an expert in making suicide jackets and training people to carry out attacks. He was arrested Monday.
Elsewhere in North West Frontier Province, police killed a suicide bomber trying to assassinate a regional education minister. Officials say the militant was killed during a confrontation with police.
Also Monday, intelligence officials in South Waziristan say one Pakistani soldier was killed and three others wounded during an attack on a military checkpoint. But a militant spokesman says several soldiers were killed in the attacks, which targeted two military posts.
In other news, Pakistani authorities say they are investigating a group of 11 foreigners - four Swedes and seven Turks - for allegedly having ties to al-Qaida. They were detained on immigration offenses.
Pakistani Interior Minister Rehman Malik said they all were living in Pakistan illegally, and that two were previously linked with al-Qaida.
Among them is a Swedish national once held at the U.S. military detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
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