Masud Khan, spokesman for the Pakistani Foreign Ministry, told RIA Novosti that he "did not have information about detention of any Russian citizens". At the same time, the Foreign Ministry official confirmed that there were foreigners among the detainees.
Masud Khan also confirmed that the Pakistani Foreign Ministry had received an enquiry message from the Russian embassy. According to him, the document is being reviewed now.
Meanwhile, according to the Pakistani mass media, a Russian named Marat, 23, was detained last Friday at the Eisha check-point in the Pakistani autonomous region of North Vaziristan bordering on Afghanistan.
According to the Dawn newspaper referring to regional security chief Brigadier General Mahmud Shakh, the detainee said that he had lived in Pakistan four two years and taken the name of Ayaz there.
Currently he is in prison in Vaziristan's capital Miranshakh, where he is being interviewed by Pakistani special service officials.
According to Mahmud Khan, the detainee was found in possession of a Pakistani identity paper. Marat-Ayaz informed the investigators that he had lived in the Moscow region before.
The Russian embassy in Islamabad forwarded an enquiry message to the Pakistani authorities with regard to the information on detention of a Russian suspected of cooperation with Al-Quaeda.
"We have sent a request, and are now waiting for a response from the Pakistani authorities", a Russian embassy official told RIA Novosti.
"The response can take several days, it is a complicated procedure", he added. According to the Russian diplomat, the embassy is checking the information appearing in the press.
The Russian Foreign Ministry does not have any information regarding this incident. "Currently we are studying the available information",a source in the Foreign Ministry Press and Information Department told RIA Novosti.
