LONDON Ñ The ruling Taliban movement is said to have closed a Palestinian military camp in Afghanistan as part of a crackdown on Arab insurgents who have used the country as a training ground for Islamic attacks around the world.

The London-based A-Sharq Al Awsat daily reported on Thursday that Taliban has launched a campaign against the thousands of Arab insurgents in Afghanistan. The newspaper said Taliban authorities have arrested and imprisoned several key insurgents and threatened others with detention.

It is not clear whether the new Taliban policy would affect Saudi billionaire fugitive Osama Bin Laden. Bin Laden, accused of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embasssies, is said to be hiding in a mountain base. Bin Laden has formed ties with such groups as Hamas and supporters of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

The new Taliban policy, the newspaper said, is meant to end all independent activities by the Palestinians and other so-called Arab Afghans.

Many of them began using Afghanistan as a base in the 1980s during the drive to expel Soviet troops from the country. Since the Taliban takeover of 90 percent of Afghanistan, the Arab insurgents have turned the country into a base for attacks in Asia, Africa and Europe.

Taliban now plans to stop all Arab insurgency activity in Afghanistan, travelers arriving from the country said. The insurgents, however, would be allowed to join Taliban in fighting opposition forces supported by Iran and Russia.

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