ISLAMABAD - Pakistani authorities said they had arrested seven people over a plot to blow up multiple airliners, including two British nationals who were allegedly key players in the terror scheme.

The Britons, both of Pakistani descent, were seized last week and provided vital information that helped to bust the plot while five local militant "facilitators" were arrested separately, officials said.

Pakistani authorities said they had arrested seven people over a plot to blow up multiple airliners, including two British nationals who were allegedly key players in the terror scheme. [AFP]

British Home Secretary John Reid thanked Pakistan for its assistance after the arrests, which Islamabad said were part of a coordinated operation with British and US intelligence.

"One of the suspects was arrested in Karachi and another was arrested in Lahore. Both the men were British nationals of Pakistani origin and were key members of the Britain-based network of militants," a senior Pakistani government official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"The arrests in Pakistan were made prior to the action in London. They were in full knowledge of the plot to blow up the airliners and the information was passed on to Britain and US intelligence," the official added.

Foreign office spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Pakistan "played a very important role in uncovering and breaking this international terrorist network. There were some arrests in Pakistan which were coordinated with arrests in the UK."

Pakistani agents also arrested a network of five domestic extremists in connection with the London plots, a security official said, saying they had acted as "facilitators" for the Britons.

Another security official said late Thursday that at least three of the people arrested in Pakistan had links to Al-Qaeda.

London's Guardian newspaper quoted a British government source as saying that an intercepted message from Pakistan telling the bombers to "go now" had triggered the arrests.

Pakistan stepped up security at its own airports Friday following Britain's announcement that it had thwarted a plot to wreak "mass murder" by simultaneous bombings of planes bound for the United States.

Authorities were also investigating some financial transactions made by an unnamed foreign Muslim welfare group to at least a dozen branches of banks in Karachi and northwestern Peshawar city, a security official.

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