A key operative of the Al Qaeda, Yasser al-Jazeeri, and five of his accomplices, including a Pakistani, were arrested in Lahore on Saturday, official sources said.

They said a team of intelligence officials raided a rented house in Bhagatpura in Lahore and arrested al-Jazeeri, a Moroccan.

"Yasser al-Jazeeri is seventh in the top Al Qaeda leadership," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said.

"It is another big catch, but not as big as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed," he told a local television channel.

No Federal Bureau of Investigation personnel was involved in the raid, he added.

Al-Jazeeri was shifted to an unknown place for interrogation, the sources said.

The name of the Pakistani arrested along with al-Jazeeri was Gulzeb alias Jaffar, they added.

Al-Jazeeri might have been arrested on a tip-off given by Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, who was arrested some weeks ago from Rawalpindi, local reports said.

Witnesses told the local media that three bearded men, apparently Afghans, were also arrested, blindfolded and taken away in a Toyota wagon [LHG-340].

PTI