lucky wilbury
06-14-2004, 01:58 AM
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5202774/
Pakistani authorities hold 10 al-Qaida suspects
Officials call weekend arrests ‘a major breakthrough’
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:26 p.m. ET June 13, 2004
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities have arrested 10 suspected al-Qaida members, including a nephew of terrorism mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who has been in U.S. custody the past year, the interior minister said Sunday.
The men were arrested over the weekend in separate raids in the southern port city of Karachi, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said.
Among them was Masrab Arochi, a nephew of Mohammed, the former al-Qaida third-in-command who was captured in March 2003 in a city near the Pakistani capital. Arochi had a $1 million bounty on his head, Hayat said, and is believed to have been behind several attacks in Pakistan.
“It is a major breakthrough,” Hayat said. “We have made a big dent in the al-Qaida network.”
The interior minister said among those taken in were eight Central Asians who confessed to a Thursday attempt to assassinate Lt. Gen. Ahsan Saleem Hayat, the corps commander of Karachi. The general was unharmed, but 10 others died in the attack.
“They have confessed to a key role in the attack,” said the interior minister, Hayat. “They have a direct link to al-Qaida.”
A tenth suspect arrested in the past 24 hours was identified as the mastermind of two sectarian attacks in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta in the past few months that left scores dead. Hayat did not reveal his name.
Official: Men trained at al-Qaida camps
Hayat said the eight Central Asian men had all trained at al-Qaida camps in South Waziristan, a tribal region near the Afghan border that is believed to be a possible hideout for top al-Qaida figures Osama bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri and others.
Hayat also said the group had been involved in two recent bombings at Shiite mosques in Karachi, and that their leader, identified by the single name Attaullah, was among the eight detained.
The Pakistani military has been engaged in four days of fierce fighting in the area that has left more than 50 suspected militants and 17 security forces dead.
Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the chief army spokesman, said earlier Sunday that operations were winding down and that the army and paramilitary troops “successfully dismantled and destroyed” militant hideouts in the offensive.
Hundreds of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters said to be a mix of Arabs, Central Asians, Afghans and Uzbeks are believed to be hiding in the area.
Pakistan is a key Washington ally in the global war on terrorism, and has handed over more than 500 al-Qaida suspects to the Americans since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. The decision to side with Washington has led to anger among many of Pakistan’s own Islamic militant leader, but Hayat vowed more of the same.
“Our campaign against terrorism will go on with the same conviction and intensity until they are completely eliminated,” he said.
Mohammed, who is being held in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location outside Pakistan, has family ties to at least one other major terrorist, convicted 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef. Yousef is serving a life sentence in the United States.
Pakistani authorities hold 10 al-Qaida suspects
Officials call weekend arrests ‘a major breakthrough’
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:26 p.m. ET June 13, 2004
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - Pakistani authorities have arrested 10 suspected al-Qaida members, including a nephew of terrorism mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who has been in U.S. custody the past year, the interior minister said Sunday.
The men were arrested over the weekend in separate raids in the southern port city of Karachi, Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat said.
Among them was Masrab Arochi, a nephew of Mohammed, the former al-Qaida third-in-command who was captured in March 2003 in a city near the Pakistani capital. Arochi had a $1 million bounty on his head, Hayat said, and is believed to have been behind several attacks in Pakistan.
“It is a major breakthrough,” Hayat said. “We have made a big dent in the al-Qaida network.”
The interior minister said among those taken in were eight Central Asians who confessed to a Thursday attempt to assassinate Lt. Gen. Ahsan Saleem Hayat, the corps commander of Karachi. The general was unharmed, but 10 others died in the attack.
“They have confessed to a key role in the attack,” said the interior minister, Hayat. “They have a direct link to al-Qaida.”
A tenth suspect arrested in the past 24 hours was identified as the mastermind of two sectarian attacks in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta in the past few months that left scores dead. Hayat did not reveal his name.
Official: Men trained at al-Qaida camps
Hayat said the eight Central Asian men had all trained at al-Qaida camps in South Waziristan, a tribal region near the Afghan border that is believed to be a possible hideout for top al-Qaida figures Osama bin Laden, his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri and others.
Hayat also said the group had been involved in two recent bombings at Shiite mosques in Karachi, and that their leader, identified by the single name Attaullah, was among the eight detained.
The Pakistani military has been engaged in four days of fierce fighting in the area that has left more than 50 suspected militants and 17 security forces dead.
Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, the chief army spokesman, said earlier Sunday that operations were winding down and that the army and paramilitary troops “successfully dismantled and destroyed” militant hideouts in the offensive.
Hundreds of al-Qaida and Taliban fighters said to be a mix of Arabs, Central Asians, Afghans and Uzbeks are believed to be hiding in the area.
Pakistan is a key Washington ally in the global war on terrorism, and has handed over more than 500 al-Qaida suspects to the Americans since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks in the United States. The decision to side with Washington has led to anger among many of Pakistan’s own Islamic militant leader, but Hayat vowed more of the same.
“Our campaign against terrorism will go on with the same conviction and intensity until they are completely eliminated,” he said.
Mohammed, who is being held in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location outside Pakistan, has family ties to at least one other major terrorist, convicted 1993 World Trade Center bomber Ramzi Yousef. Yousef is serving a life sentence in the United States.