Pakistani police arrest 13 al Qaeda suspects

LAHORE, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistani police Tuesday said they arrested at least 13 people suspected of belonging to the al Qaeda terrorist network.

Police, conducting raids on two houses in Lahore, said the arrests included five Pakistanis also tied to a banned Kashmiri separatist group. They also took into custody three Libyans and two Afghans, as well an Egyptian, a Syrian and a Saudi, police said. A bag of explosive material was also found during the raid, they said.

Police also detained five women and three children, all Saudis and Afghans. The suspects were detained in the homes where the raids took place. They had been staying there since January, police said.

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With Tuesday's raids, the number of non-Pakistanis arrested in Lahore during the past week reached 70, police sources said. They were being kept in a special anti-terrorist jail.

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According to police, the Pakistanis captured Tuesday were affiliated with Lashker e Tayiba, a banned Islamic militant group fighting Indian rule in the disputed region of Kashmir.

U.S. officials said one arrest last week in Faisalabad, Pakistan, resulted in the capture of one of Osama bin Laden's key lieutenants Abu Zubaydah, the most senior al Qaeda member captured since the September 11 attacks.

--CNN Producer Syed Mohsin in Lahore contributed to this report.