ISLAMABAD: Pakistani forces arrested an Al-Qaeda suspect believed linked to the 2005 London transit bombings while US intelligence agents watched the capture from a nearby car, two Pakistani security officials said yesterday.

Zabiul Taifi, a Saudi national, was among seven Al-Qaeda suspects caught in a raid early Wednesday near the main northwest city of Peshawar sparked by a tip-off from the US, the officials told The Associated Press.

They said an unmanned spy plane and three helicopters hovered over the area during the raid on a house on the outskirts of the city, where militant activity has been on the rise. The officials requested anonymity.

The FBI and US Justice Department had no immediate comment.

A US counterterrorism official told The Associated Press that Taifi was among the top two dozen Al-Qaeda leaders.

“The fact that Taifi, a senior Al-Qaeda operations planner, is off the streets is significant,” said the official. “After all, he was deeply involved in internal and external operations plotting.”

The head of Pakistan’s Interior Ministry Rehman Malik confirmed seven people were arrested. However, he did not identify the detainees or detail their alleged crimes.

British security officials said they were not familiar with Taifi.

If confirmed, the arrests would represent a fresh blow to Al-Qaeda in Pakistan, already under fire from stepped-up US missile strikes on militant targets in Pakistani regions bordering Afghanistan.