Slain militant was Al-Qaeda's terror recruiter in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Amjad Farooqi, who was gunned down in a weekend raid nine months after allegedly trying to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, was Al-Qaeda's chief terror recruiter in Pakistan, security officials said.

"Farooqi was the man on whom Al-Qaeda relied for carrying out attacks and recruiting people who executed terror plots," a top security official told AFP on Monday.

Farooqi, 30, considered Pakistan's most wanted man, was shot dead Sunday morning in a two-hour gunbattle at his hideout in the dusty town of Nawabshah in southern Sindh province in a dramatic end to a nationwide manhunt.

Musharraf had named Farooqi as the mastermind of two attempts to blow him up on December 14 and 25 as his motorcade drove through the military garrison town of Rawalpindi, next to the capital Islamabad.

"We rated this man very highly because he was the big force behind so many acts of terrorism in the country," said the security official, speaking on condition of anonymity.

"He had the capability to attack the highest and most well-protected man in the country in the space of 12 days."

With Farooqi's death "Pakistan's major terrorism threat has been neutralised", he added.

"We think it is the biggest blow to terrorism in the country, to Al-Qaeda foreign operatives. His death should demoralise Al-Qaeda."

Farooqi had been on the run since being indicted over the January 2002 murder of US Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.

Investigators say he was one of four men who kidnapped Pearl in Karachi on January 25 and allegedly recruited the trio who slit his throat around a week later.

He was "very close" to Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British-born militant convicted of plotting Pearl's abduction and murder, Karachi police have said.

"Omar told us when he thought of kidnapping Pearl, the first man he contacted for help was Farooqi," a police investigator told AFP, speaking anonymously.

"Omar lured Pearl into the trap and the rest of the job was done by Farooqi's men."

Farooqi had joined the world of "jihadis" or holy warriors as a teenager, when he signed up to the now-outlawed Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami militant group in his hometown of Toba Tek Singh, a hotbed of extremists in rural southern Punjab.

He went on to make a name for himself running militant training camps alongside Al-Qaeda in Taliban-ruled Afghanistan in the 1990s.

"He was extremely respected among the militant organisations because he had managed and successfully operated training camps in Afghanistan for Pakistani fighters," the security official said.

"For every person who went through training in those camps, he was the hero. He was charismatic and had an army of suicide bombers."

Farooqi kept the lists and addresses of all those who trained in Afghanistan camps, investigators said.

He fought alongside the Taliban in their battles against the rival Afghan Northern Alliance.

After the Taliban conquered most of Afghanistan in 1996 the young fighter's contacts with Osama bin Laden and his closest lieutenants deepened.

Farooqi had close contact with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, Al-Qaeda's number three and the alleged chief planner of the September 11, 2001 attacks, the official said.

Officials said he recruited militants from different organisations for the attacks on Musharraf. He motivated junior army and air force officers through a chain of Islamic clerics to plant explosives on a bridge used by the presidential motorcade in the December 13 attack.

Officials have said Farooqi's modus operandi was to create several small cells of three to four people, assigning them different jobs and keeping one cell completely ignorant of the other.

A handout photo of militant Amjad Hussain Farooqi, who was killed after an encounter in the small southern city of Nawabshah, 130 km (80 miles) northeast of Karachi, September 26, 2004. Pakistan's security forces on Sunday shot dead a militant said to have plotted an attempt to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf and to have had a hand in the killing of a U.S. journalist, the information minister said. Amjad Hussain Farooqi had a price of 2 million rupees ($34,000) on his head. EDITORIAL USE ONLY REUTERS/Press Information Department/PID/Handout

Amjad Hussain, who is known as Amjad Farooqi, a suspected top al-Qaida operative, seen in this handout picture released by Pakistan Information Ministry on Monday, Sept. 27, 2004. Paramilitary police killed Amjad Hussain Farooqi, a suspected top al-Qaida operative in a four-hour gunbattle at a house in southern Pakistan that also led to the arrest of two other men, the information minister said. Farooqi was wanted for his alleged role in the kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 and two assassination attempts against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf in December 2003. (AP Photo/Press Information Department, HO)

Pakistani security officials patrol the area where Islamic militant Amjad Farooqi was killed in Nawabshah September 27, 2004. Pakistani security forces arrested more suspected Islamic militants a day after they shot dead Farooqi, a key suspect wanted in a failed attempt on President Pervez Musharraf's life and the killing of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl. (Akram Shahid/Reuters)

A view of the house where al Qaeda militant Amjad Farooqi was killed in Nawabshah September 27, 2004. Pakistani security forces arrested more suspected Islamic militants a day after they shot dead Farooqi, who was wanted for a failed attempt on President Pervez Musharraf's life and the killing of U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl. REUTERS/Akram Shahid

Pakistan claims "crushing blow" to Al-Qaeda after top militant killed

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan claimed it had dealt Al-Qaeda a crushing blow after killing a top militant said to have masterminded attempts on President Pervez Musharraf's life and arranged the beheading of US reporter Daniel Pearl.

Amjad Farooqi had also helped hide the alleged chief plotter of the September 11, 2001 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, and was closely associated with Al-Qaeda's new operations chief, Libyan Abu Faraj Farj, security officials said.

Farooqi, Pakistan's most wanted militant, was shot dead during a two-hour gunbattle at his rural hideout north of Karachi on Sunday morning, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said.

"Farooqi's elimination is a crushing blow to the Al-Qaeda network in Pakistan because he was the man who had been providing Al-Qaeda terrorists with the manpower to carry out attacks," a senior security official told AFP.

Farooqi, 30, was one of four men who kidnapped Pearl in Karachi in January 2002 and allegedly recruited the trio who slit his throat around a week later, according to investigators. He had been indicted over Pearl's murder.

Musharraf named Farooqi as the mastermind of attempts to kill him last December but the militant had evaded a massive nationwide manhunt for nine months.

A mobile phone call intercepted by intelligence agencies led them to his new hideout in the town of Nawabshah, 270 kilometers (169 miles) north of Karachi, said Karachi's chief police investigator Fayyaz Leghari.

Paramilitary police surrounding his hideout were met with a hail of automatic gunfire from Farooqi and his accomplices.

In the ensuing firefight Farooqi cried out "I prefer death!" according to a security official involved in the raid.

Three other "very important wanted terrorists" were captured during the raid and Monday were being questioned in Karachi.

"The three accomplices of Farooqi are being interrogated by intelligence agencies and it may lead to some more arrests," Sindh province home minister Rauf Siddiqi told AFP.

"We are quite hopeful that some of their other accomplices might be hiding in Nawabshah or in nearby areas and will be caught."

Farooqi's body has been transported to Karachi and DNA samples were being sent to eastern city Lahore to confirm his identity, Siddiqi said.

"Farooqi's death and the arrest of his teammates is a setback for the militants," he added.

Farooqi had undergone training in Afghanistan in 1992 with the Pakistani militant organisation Harkatul Jihad-e-Islami.

He had fought alongside the hardline Taliban militia and developed close contacts with Osama bin Laden and top Al-Qaeda leaders in the late 1990s when the Taliban ruled most of Afghanistan and sheltered the terror network there.

Leghari said Farooqi had helped hide Khalid Sheikh Mohammad -- Al-Qaeda's number three and the alleged chief planner of the September 11, 2001 attacks -- in Karachi before Mohammad was arrested near Islamabad in March last year.

He was said to be "very close" to Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, the British-born militant convicted of plotting Pearl's abduction and murder.

Musharraf, who threw his support behind the US "war on terror" after the September 11 attacks, said this month he was making significant inroads into breaking the Al-Qaeda network -- including the arrest of some 600 suspects.

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"Amjad Farooqi, who was gunned down in a weekend raid nine months after allegedly trying to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf, was Al-Qaeda's chief terror recruiter in Pakistan, security officials said."