Pakistan's military said it has arrested a senior al-Qaida official and two other members of the terrorist group in an operation assisted by U.S. intelligence agencies.

An army statement identified the senior detainee as Younis al-Mauritani, who it said had been tasked by Osama bin Laden with targeting economic interests in the United States, Europe and Australia. The other two detainees were not identified.

The military said the operation took place in the southern city of Quetta but did not specify when.

Pakistan has been under intense pressure from the United States to crack down harder on al-Qaida since U.S. special forces found bin Laden in a Pakistani town in May and killed him.

The secret operation targeting bin Laden severely strained ties between Pakistan and the United States, raising questions in Washington over whether Pakistan's intelligence agencies knew that the al-Qaida leader was living in the country.