Pakistani intelligence agents re-arrested an American detained in the country's volatile border region and were questioning the man, police said Wednesday.
The man ‚ identified by Pakistani police as Juddi Kenan ‚ was carrying a laptop computer when he was arrested Monday at a checkpoint in the northwestern district of Mohmand, near where Pakistani security forces have battled Islamic militants for two months.
District police chief Waqif Khan said the 20-year-old was released from custody Tuesday but was picked up hours later at his home in the nearby city of Peshawar.
“He is now in the custody of intelligence agencies, who are required to quiz him again for further satisfaction,” he said.
Peshawar is the main city and lies outside the tribal zone, where special permission is needed to visit.
Khan said the man had dual American-Pakistani citizenship.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. officials have visited and spoken with the man and are doing everything they can for him. He declined to provide more specific details ‚ including confirming the name ‚ because of privacy concerns.
He said, generally, that U.S. officials in such a situation can provide a list of lawyers who might be able to help, provide food and clothing and try to help the person communicate with family members. “We try to help them out as best we can,” McCormack said.
Pakistan is battling a growing militant threat in the northwest, where al-Qaida and Taliban fighters have established bases and plan attacks on American and NATO forces across the border in Afghanistan.
Security forces killed four suspected militants overnight in the area, the latest casualties in a major military offensive against al-Qaida and Taliban fighters there, said Jamil Khan, the no 2. government representative in the area.
Khan said the main Bajur town of Khar is under curfew and that fresh troops were flowing in along with tanks and artillery.
In other violence, militants fired rockets late Tuesday at a security post near Darra Adam Khel, another area of the northwest, killing two paramilitary troops and wounding three, said Rashid Khan, a local government official.
The United Nations said Tuesday almost 190,000 people had fled the fighting in Bajur, either across the border to Afghanistan or to other towns in northwest Pakistan.