Posted on 04/17/2006 7:12:50 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) - Pakistani security forces arrested four foreign suspected Al-Qaeda militants, two of them disguised in burqas, after a gunfight near the Afghan border, officials said.
Commandos shot out the tyres of the men's car outside the northwestern city of Peshawar in a coordinated swoop, the security officials told AFP on condition of anonymity. One other suspect escaped.
Agents then raided a hideout where they found assault rifles, grenades and ammunition, plus a laptop and documents identifying possible targets for attacks in Pakistan, the officials said.
The men's nationalities had not been confirmed, although some were believed to be Afghans. It was also not known whether they were senior figures in the Al-Qaeda network.
Security sources said the suspected insurgents were moving from one hideout to another safe house when their car was stopped. The men put up some resistance but there were no casualties on either side.
Two suspects were in the front seat and three were in the back, wearing all-covering, traditional Islamic blue burqas in a bid to disguise themselves as women, the officials said.
The men were all carrying multiple fake identification papers, they added.
"They are being interrogated," one security official said.
Pakistan's chief military spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said he had no details about the arrests.
The arrests come days after officials said a top Al-Qaeda operative indicted for the 1998 US embassy bombings in Africa was believed to have died in a Pakistani military strike in a tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
Egyptian-born explosives expert Abdul Rahman Al-Muhajir is thought to have been killed along with seven other militants in the raid on Wednesday, which took place not far from Peshawar.
Al-Muhajir is one of many aliases of Muhsin Musa Matwalli Atwah, who carries a five million dollar bounty on his head and was indicted for the attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania which killed more than 220 people.
Pakistan has deployed 80,000 troops on the border to hunt militants who took refuge in its lawless tribal belt after Afghanistan's Taliban regime was toppled following the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
Since then it has captured around 700 Al-Qaeda militants. Major catches include chief 9/11 planner Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and Tanzanian Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, who was also indicted in the 1998 bombing in East Africa.
President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally in "war on terror" last month warned foreign insurgents to leave the tribal belt or be killed.
Pakistan on Monday sealed part of its northwestern frontier bordering the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, in a bid to stop the infiltration of Taliban rebels fleeing a US-led military offensive there, military officials said.
Ping -
the old disguised as women in burkhas Ping. ;-)
Hmmmmmmmmm.
Lookie here.
I don't suppose one of those in burqas was exceptionally tall, was he? I would SO like that jerk to be caught in a burqa! HA!
Always a good sign when you nab SOB's in this manner. For a variety of reasons.
I hope it's still OK to tickle 'women' in interrogation.. too bad one got away.
Hopefully, the laptop has some good stuff on it too.
Wonder where the guy with the Predator above him went?
Bet he's having a rough time finding friends.
Burkas .....again....
An army of transvestites?
Don't hold back now, tell us how you really feel!
Off- Topic....listening to Coast to Coast on KFI and they just had news that Arnold is saying the Feds are screwing up on immigration, amnesty is NOT the way to go....is this new?
His ticket for re-election?
As if they have a choice?
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,192035,00.html
Pakistani anti-terror police commandos on Monday arrested two Afghans and an Arab, suspected to be Al Qaeda
...leaving one of to-be-determined (possibly Pakistani?) nationality and one escapee.
~~~~~~~
From India's New Kerala:
"The four (suspects) are of Arab and Afghan origin and are wanted by Pakistan and the US in various terror attacks," a police official told IANS on condition of anonymity.
http://www.newkerala.com/news2.php?action=fullnews&id=44080
So this one has all four of them as Afghan/Arab, and they were definitely known terrorists, on the radar screens of Pakistan and America.
~~~~~~~
And from Afghanistan, the gem:
Ex-Taliban envoy, al-Qaeda suspects arrested in Peshawar
KABUL, Apr 18 (Pajhwok Afghan News): Pakistani secret agencies have arrested former Taliban ambassador to Pakistan Maulvi Saeedur Rehman Haqqani and four suspected al-Qaeda elements in two separate raids in the border town of Peshawar.
Quoting reliable sources, a widely circulated Pakistani English daily Tuesday reported that Saeedur Rehman Haqqani was arrested by secret agencies three days back while on way from Peshawar to Bannu. He was immediately shifted to Islamabad, where he is under investigations, said the sources.
Haqqani served as Taliban ambassador to Pakistan for a couple of months. After the ouster of Taliban in November 2001, he was residing in Bannu. He had reportedly disassociated himself from his former colleagues, said the sources.
Rumours are that two other colleagues of Haqqani, Qari Sibghatullah and Maulvi Inqeyadi were also arrested by the security agencies along with him.
Separately, the personnel of secret agencies arrested four alleged al-Qaeda men in the Zangali area, south of Peshawar on Monday. The four suspects were arrested by the personnel of secret agencies and CID police.
The law-enforcers were told that some alleged al-Qaeda men were coming from Kohat in a car bearing registration number STK 2780. As the security personnel signaled the car to stop, the driver accelerated. Later, during a chase, the security personnel succeeded to burst tyres of the car and the four people were arrested. Two of the arrested people were wearing veils, witnesses said.
http://www.pajhwak.com/viewstory.asp?id=16732
Had the car license plate number -- now that's some good intel! :-)
ISLAMABAD, April 17: An alleged Al Qaeda militant of Turkish origin captured two months back in South Waziristan was handed over to his home country on Monday.
Pakistani authorities captured Mohammad Yousaf on January 28 suspecting him of being an Al Qaeda militant and handed him over to Turkish authorities after an investigation which lasted two months.
Another suspected militant, who was captured in Lahore, is under investigation.
SANAA, Yemen, April 18 (UPI) -- A seventh al-Qaida runaway from the 23 prisoners who fled the central intelligence prison in Sanaa February has surrendered to Yemeni authorities.
Daily al-Rai quoted a security source as saying Tuesday that "the seventh runaway al-Qaida member surrendered Monday in an operation that appears to have been preceded by negotiations."
The source said security forces raided an apartment in a neighborhood south of Sanaa where they seized Zakaria Yafii, who made no attempt to resist arrest. He was taken back to the central intelligence prison which he fled 75 days ago in an operation still shrouded in mystery and suspicion...
http://www.upi.com/InternationalIntelligence/view.php?StoryID=20060418-054625-6915r
They've been on a roll lately. With any luck the laptop will provide leads to another catch or kill.
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