By Agencies

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Pakistani security officials are saying that news of the arrest of an al-Qaeda spokesman wanted in the United States for treason may not be true.

Officials on Monday said there had been confusion over the identity of a detained suspect, initially believed to be Adam Gadahn, a senior al-Qaeda member. 

Some Pakistani officials had said on Sunday that Gadahn, a California-born convert to Islam with a $1m bounty on his head, had been arrested on the outskirts of the city of Karachi.

But a senior government official and two security agents said on Monday the suspected al-Qaeda operative picked up in Karachi was not Gadahn.

"Our initial impression was that the guy was Adam Gadahn but that information now looks incorrect," said one security official, who declined to be identified.

Similar name

The arrested man was believed to be an American who goes by the alias Abu Yahya, the officials said. Gadahn is known to have used a similar alias.

"Probably the name and his origin caused the confusion," the first official said.

He declined to speculate about the identity of the arrested man except to say he was apparently an American al-Qaeda operative.

He said: "We don't know yet how big a catch he is!"

Omar Waraich, a journalist with the Islamabad-based Independent newspaper, said the arrest showed that Karachi continued to be a popular hideout for Taliban and al-Qaeda operatives.

"It is also a break through for the Pakistanis and Americans that just weeks after the arrest of Mullah Brader [a top Afghan Taliban commander captured recently] and other shadow governors throughout Pakistan, you've got another al-Qaeda operative," he said.

Gadahn has been involved with al-Qaeda's al-Sahab media wing and has appeared in al-Qaeda videos wearing robes and a turban, warning the United States that it would face attacks if it did not heed al-Qaeda demands.

On Sunday, a video was released on Islamist websites in which Gadahn called for Muslims in the United States to launch attacks to undermine the economy, according to a website that monitors al-Qaeda announcements.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has been seeking to question Gadahn since May 2004, and the US government has offered up to $1m in reward money for information leading to his arrest.

The 2006 treason charge against him carries a maximum penalty of death.