ISLAMABAD, Nov. 21 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani police arrested 47 suspected Taliban militants in raids Tuesday in the southwestern Balochistan province bordering Afghanistan, state-run APP reported.

    The raids were conducted at different places in the provincial capital Quetta and its suburbs, Senior Superintendent of Police Qazi Abdul Wahid said.

    The police also recovered literature from the custody of the arrested people indicating their strong links with Taliban movement in Afghanistan, Wahid said.

    "They are all newcomers who crossed the border illegally over the past one week," he said.

    Police last month rounded up more than 50 suspected Taliban, six of them from a hospital in Quetta where they had been receiving treatment.

    Hundreds of Taliban and al-Qaeda militants sneaked into Pakistan in late 2001 after the Taliban regime was ousted in the U.S.-led operation for sheltering Osama bin Laden following the Sept. 11 attacks.

    Pakistan has deployed around 80,000 troops along the border with Afghanistan to hunt down Taliban and al-Qaeda fugitives in the tribal areas.