Pakistan is planning to deport five Americans held on terror links to the United States after they were grilled by a special FBI team in the capital Islamabad, local media reported Saturday.

The five-member team of the Federal Bureau of Investigation ( FBI) along with Pakistani intelligence officials, a legal advisor and a political counsellor of the U.S. embassy to Pakistan is engaged in grilling the five Americans about their alleged links with militant organizations and future plans, a senior interior ministry official told media.

"As soon as the investigations are over, they will be deported to their country," the official said.

Pakistani authorities arrested the five people on Wednesday in the northeastern city of Sargodha, about 180 km south of Islamabad.

Police said that the suspects were arrested from a house of a local leader of banned militant organization Jaish-e-Muhammad.

Their local host has been handed over to police on a remand by a local court.

Pictures of the detainees shown on the private TV station Friday showed the five young men, most of them clean-shaven, in Western clothing.

It's not a matter concerning to the U.S. only, said the interior ministry official.

"We too are concerned about this. Therefore, our interrogators are also grilling them to know about their aides here, and their future plans," he said.

U.S. President Barack Obama has promised an investigation into how and why the five men left the U.S. for Pakistan.

Pakistan is in the grip of a fierce insurgency, with hundreds of people killed in attacks in the past months.

Comments