ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Officials investigating the alleged plot to blow up transatlantic airliners say at least seven of the suspects arrested in Britain had dual citizenship and made frequent trips here in the last three years, gaining information on how to make detonators and explosives.
Most of the suspects detained in Britain also had met with Rashid Rauf, 25, whom Pakistani authorities arrested two days before the alleged cell was broken up on Aug. 10, a senior Pakistani government source said.
Officials say Rauf, who is related by marriage to a prominent Islamic militant, was a key figure in the suspected plot to detonate liquids on as many as 10 planes. Funding and some of the militants involved in the plot might have come from as far away as Africa, Pakistani officials say.
The new details appear to highlight Pakistan's role as a virtual bazaar for would-be terrorists run by militant groups allied with Al Qaeda.
Investigators say they still don't know whether the suspects were being directed by militants in Pakistan or came here seeking inspiration and expertise for a plot that was hatched in Britain.
And though it is unclear whether they received practical training in making bombs, officials here say they are certain that British-based plotters at least received information on detonators and explosives.
U.S. officials say they are concerned about intelligence suggesting that Pakistan has become a place where militants and Al Qaeda operatives assist and train Islamic militants from Europe, and potentially from the United States.
The country's perceived role as a center of Islamic militancy has its roots in the 1980s insurgency against Soviet forces in neighboring Afghanistan, when the U.S. funneled billions of dollars in covert aid and training through Pakistan to groups that then spawned anti-Western militants.
Pakistan still has a large pool of fighters who know how to use explosives and small arms in insurgent attacks. Pakistani authorities refer to some of the most dangerous as ATBs, short for "Afghan-trained boys," and say they number at least 3,000.
For its part in a shaky peace process with neighboring India, Pakistan has sharply cut the number of militants infiltrating into the Indian-held portion of Kashmir, leaving thousands of trained militants with time to focus on other areas.
