LONDON: British police say that they have arrested a Nepali man on suspicion of torture allegedly committed during the Himalayan nation's bloody civil war.

Britain's Metropolitan Police said Thursday they had arrested the 46-year-old at a residential address in the English town of St. Leonards-on-Sea, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) southeast of London.

Scotland Yard said the arrest did not take place at the request of Nepali authorities.

The details of the alleged offense have not been made clear, but British authorities claim "universal jurisdiction" over serious offenses such as war crimes, torture, and hostage taking.

That means such crimes can be prosecuted in Britain regardless of where they occurred.

Thousands died and thousands more were injured or tortured during Nepal's civil war, a decade-long conflict which ended in 2006.