Pakistani police said the man was caught at a security checkpost on the border between North Waziristan and Bannu city on Monday.

“He’s our comrade. He was going somewhere,” Muhammad Umer, head of the Taleban’s media center, said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

“We have many Germans here who have been taking part in jihad. It shouldn’t be shocking,” Umer said.

A Pakistani intelligence official in Bannu, who declined to be identified, said the man, in his mid-20s, told investigators he wanted to turn himself in at the German embassy in Islamabad.

“He entered Pakistan via Iran last year and was in contact with militants,” the official said.

Shafqat Khan, a senior police officer in Bannu, said the German, who has yet to be identified publicly, was traveling in a car with two tribesmen, one of whom was also wearing a burqa.

“They were carrying a girl in a bid to pretend they’re a tribal family,” Khan said.

Khan said the German man was being interrogated.

North Waziristan is a known stronghold for Al-Qaeda and Taleban militants. The United States has been pushing Pakistan to launch a military offensive there, but the Pakistan army says it lacks resources to do so.

Last week, police in northern Chitral detained an American man for allegedly trying to sneak into Afghanistan to hunt and kill Al-Qaeda kingpin Osama Bin Laden.

Separately, Pakistani warplanes bombed militant positions in the northwestern region of Orakzai on Tuesday, killing eight militants and destroying several hideouts, security officials said.