Police have arrested 17 non-Libyans suspected of being al-Qaida members who entered this North African country illegally, the interior minister said Sunday. Nasr al-Mabrouk said the men are from the Indian subcontinent and Central Asia and were arrested when they entered Libya. Al-Mabrouk did not specify the nationalities of the men, say when they were arrested or say whether they entered Libya individually or as a group. "Preliminary investigations proved that the group, numbering now 17, has a connection with Osama bin Laden, but the nature of this relation has not been established yet," al-Mabrouk told The Associated Press. Al-Mabrouk provided no details on the men's aims in Libya but said more information would be released in coming days. Libya has been known for a tolerant approach to immigration and foreign labor, but under European pressure it has toughened its stance and arrested hundreds of would-be immigrants.
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