NY plot: Suspect's father-in-law, friend held

Pakistan authorities have detained seven men from different parts of the country for their alleged links with Pakistani-American Faisal Shahzad, who was arrested following a botched car bombing in New York City.

A top police official in Punjab province said that at least seven suspects had been taken into custody in Lahore, Rawalpindi, Faisalabad and Karachi and shifted to an undisclosed location for interrogation.

He did not confirm whether the detained suspects had links to the Taliban or the Al Qaeda.

"I can only confirm the detentions at the moment. The intelligence agencies are in contact with United Stated authorities about this matter," the officer said.

Security officials, who declined to be named, confirmed at least two detentions but did not reveal further details. According to other sources, a person identified as Tauseef Ahmed was one of the detainees.

Ahmed had made several contacts with Faisal in the last few weeks and had even gone to the US sometime back on his invitation, they said.

The other person was Shahzad's father-in-law Iftikhar Mian, said some news reports.

A television news channel reported that Tauseef's wife had claimed that her husband was innocent and being made a scapegoat.

"My husband has done nothing wrong. He was only friendly with Faisal Shahzad but he is not involved in such activities. They have picked him up without any reason," she was quoted as saying by a TV channel.

Pakistan has vowed to help and cooperate with the United States in the investigations into the failed car bomb attack. Shahzad, a naturalised US citizen, was taken into custody on Monday from the JFK Airport as he attempted to board a flight to Dubai.

Shahzad's wife Huma Mian lives in Pakistan with the couple's two children, but there were no reports on whether she had also been detained.