CNN television reported on Thursday that a suspected organiser of the London bomb attacks, Haroon Aswat, has been detained in Zambia. The report, which quoted US and Zambian officials, said there were now international negotiations over who would get access to Aswat, who is also wanted in the United States.
Aswat, who is about 31, is a British-born Pakistani suspected of playing a role in organising the four suicide bomb attacks in London on July 7 which killed 52 people.
According to media reports, the hunt for Aswat intensified after it was found that his mobile phone received up to 20 calls from the four London suicide bombers before the attacks.
US investigators also want to question Aswat over attempts to set up a terrorist training camp in Bly, Oregon.
CNN quoted US officials as saying Aswat was "in their grasp" one month before the London attacks but British counterparts would not let them detain him. It also quoted the sources as saying the suspect had been under surveillance in South Africa.
However, Zambian officials cannot officially confirm or deny that it had detained a suspected organiser of the London bomb attacks, an official said.
"I can neither confirm nor deny the reports because I haven't yet been briefed," Zambia's interior ministry secretary told AFP late Thursday.
"We are holding a person in connection with terrorist activities," said the Zambian intelligence official who asked not to be named, but he did not elaborate.
In London, Foreign Office officials said: "We are currently seeking consular access to a British national reported to be in custody in Zambia," while Scotland Yard said "it's all speculation and not something that we will discuss at the moment."
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