Taliban veterans in Pakistan were part of a foiled plot to assassinate president Pervez Musharraf, intelligence officials said today.
Despite official denials that any new attempt to kill Mr Musharraf had been uncovered during a series of al Qaeda-linked arrests in recent weeks, intelligence officers insisted nearly a dozen people detained had planned an assassination.
Mr Musharraf narrowly survived two al Qaeda attempts on his life in December 2003, and another plot against him was thwarted in the southern port city of Karachi in early 2002.
On Monday, Pakistani security forces, acting on information from US agents, caught Libyan, Abu Faraj Farj al Liby.
President George Bush described Liby as one of Osama bin Laden's top generals, and his capture boosted hopes that investigators might soon find the al Qaeda leader or his deputy Ayman al-Zawahri.
The arrest of around ten people this week, including Liby, has been linked to the recapture last week of Mushtaq Ahmed, who escaped custody in December after being sentenced to death for his role in one of the assassination attempts on Mr Musharraf.