MUSCAT, 26 August — Oman confirmed yesterday that it had arrested members of an Al-Qaeda cell but denied reports that it extradited them to the United States. "No person has been handed over to the United States," the official Oman News Agency said. "That is one of the principles of the Sultanate." However ONA did not deny that the authorities had uncovered and smashed an Al-Qaeda cell, as Asharq Al-Awsat reported. The newspaper quoted American security sources as saying "they were transferred to the United States." The sources praised the Omani authorities for breaking up what was reportedly the first such cell discovered in the Gulf country.— Sami Hamid