KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - NATO says Afghan security forces have
arrested a member of a deadly an al-Qaida-linked group that
controls much of eastern Afghanistan.

The suspected gun smuggler and three other suspects were
arrested after officials ordered the plane flying them to Saudi
Arabia to return to Kabul (KAH'-bool).

The NATO statement also says coalition forces have arrested a
senior Taliban leader in charge of the Marjah district in Helmand
province. That area was taken from Taliban control in February, but
there are still pockets of insurgent resistance.

The arrests came as NATO reported the deaths of two more service
members.

Militants also killed a local government official in eastern
Afghanistan and detonated a bomb in front of a police station in
the northwest, wounding nine civilians.

(Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)