Pakistan's Information Minister Sheikh Rasheed Ahmed said Monday the computer information seized during the arrest of a senior al-Qaeda operative last month have possible plans for attacks on key buildings in the United States and Britain.

The Tanzanian born Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who was wanted in connection with the 1998 bombing of the American embassies in eastAfrica, was arrested last month along with 13 others after a gun battle with the Pakistani security forces in the city of Gujrat inPakistan's eastern Punjab province.

Acting on the information passed on by Pakistan, the United States on Sunday raised the terror alert level to a new height in New York and Washington with the special security measures being applied at several key installations.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed did not give the specific details of the computer files and other materials seized from Khalfan Ghailani and other al-Qaeda operatives, but said it contained substantial information about possible attacks on buildings in the United States and Britain, the local news agency News Network International reported.

He said all the documentary evidence, along with the information collected from other sources, was passed on to the relevant countries for taking appropriate measures. The Pakistani information minister said Khalfan Ghailani was still being interrogated by the intelligence agencies to collect more information.

Sheikh Rashid Ahmed also confirmed the arrest of a Pakistani computer engineer in mid July who he said was apparently helping al-Qaeda in disseminating information through emails. He did not give his name. But reports say that the man is Naeem Noor Khan, a 25-year computer engineer.

The Pakistani information minister said plans for fresh attackson the United States were found in emails and documents stored on a computer seized during the capture of an al-Qaida suspect last month.

Reports suggest that Naeem Noor Khan is also known as Abu Talhawho had used and helped al-Qaeda's secret communication system where information was transferred via code messages.

Source: Xinhua