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Al-Qa'eda 'Mastermind' Trapped (New)
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 3-19-2004 | David Rennie

Posted on 03/18/2004 6:04:07 PM PST by blam

Al-Qa'eda 'mastermind' trapped

By David Rennie in Washington
(Filed: 19/03/2004)

A battle was raging in the Pakistani tribal borderlands last night as hundreds of troops surrounded a "high-value al-Qa'eda target" protected by fanatical fighters.

Pakistani officials said they believed they had cornered Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's right-hand-man and physician. Egyptian-born al-Zawahiri, 52, helped to mastermind the September 11 attacks and numerous other atrocities.

Osama bin Laden pictured in August 2001 with al-Zawahiri

Officials said he was being defended by more than 200 al-Qa'eda guerrillas in mud-walled fortified villages. American intelligence officials were hoping he would be taken alive.

A military official said: "We have been receiving intelligence from our agents who are working in the tribal areas that Zawahiri could be among the people hiding there."

Some reports said al-Zawahiri was more important even than bin Laden in shaping the ideology of the terrorist network. Bin Laden is not thought to be in the immediate area.

The US has offered $25 million (nearly £14 million) for information leading to al-Zawahri's capture and has doubled to $50 million the reward for catching bin Laden.

The initial attack against the village of Kaloosha in a high, bowl-shaped valley about 20 miles from the Afghan border was launched on Tuesday by lightly armed troops and was beaten back.

At least 15 troops were killed, as well as 26 suspected Islamic militants, most of them apparently foreigners. One was a Chechen. Interrogation of 18 captured men suggested that al-Zawahiri had been wounded.

Pakistani special forces, regular army troops, frontier guards and tribal militia allies then joined the battle and helicopters and heavy artillery pounded the area. Pakistan said it planned to launch an air assault on the complex at dawn today.

Gen Pervaiz Musharraf, the Pakistani president, used the phrase "high-value al-Qa'eda target" when describing the battle. He said his forces had thrown a net around the area. However, officials privately expressed fears that the rugged terrain was impossible to seal at night.

Gen Musharraf said the army commander in the field had told him: "They seem very strong, dug-in positions. The houses there are almost forts. They are mud forts."

A local commander, Brig Mahmood Shah, said that, as well as Kaloosha, the battle involved the villages of Azam Warsak and Shin Warsak.

All three are in South Waziristan, which from British colonial times has always resisted central government control. Tuesday's incursion so enraged tribesmen that they burned more than a dozen army vehicles..

Gen Musharraf conceded that his commanders had initially been "careless" in sending in forces that were too light for the task. He said villagers had been told to flee the battle zone to reduce civilian casualties.

At America's request, Pakistani forces have spent weeks on an unprecedented penetration of tribal zones. They have been offering bribes to gain co-operation and destroying houses when they encounter resistance.

Colin Powell, the US secretary of state, yesterday rewarded Pakistan's co-operation in the war on terrorism by designating the country a major non-Nato ally. This allows it to buy advanced American arms. He ended a visit to Pakistan hours before the fighting intensified

No one would say whether United States forces were involved in the fighting. Mindful of Pakistani public opinion, American and Pakistani officials insist that the US military keeps strictly to the Afghan side of the border. However, American personnel, including CIA paramilitaries, are believed to be providing communications and surveillance assistance.

They are believed to have helped a year ago when Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected al-Qa'eda No 3 and the mastermind of September 11, was captured as he slept in a safe house in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.

President George W Bush issued an uncompromising warning to Spain and other allies yesterday that terrorists could never be "appeased". Speaking against a backdrop of cheering troops, he said nations would not find safety by running and hiding from the war on terrorism.

The Islamic militant group that claimed responsibility for last week's Madrid train bombings has said its next targets could be in Britain, Australia, Japan or Italy, an Arabic newspaper reported.

The Brigade of Abu Hafs al-Masri said it was calling a truce in Spain to give the new socialist government time to carry out its pledge to withdraw troops from Iraq.

Pentagon officials are highly sceptical that the Abu Hafs group, with only tenuous links to al-Qa'eda, was capable of masterminding the bombings.


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; alzawahri; aymanalzawahri; binladen; mastermind; pakistan; southasia; trapped; waziristan; wot
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Bill O'Reilly read a note on his show tonight that said Zawahiri was already dead and they were just waiting on DNA evidence before anouncing it. I don't recall where he said he got that info. He also said that the US Task Force 121 is involved.
1 posted on 03/18/2004 6:04:08 PM PST by blam
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To: madridkid
Never heard of Bill O'reilly?
4 posted on 03/18/2004 6:07:40 PM PST by Rams82
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To: madridkid
#2 guy in Al Queda. Known as OBL's doctor and considered by many as the brains of AQ and their best strategist.
5 posted on 03/18/2004 6:08:07 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (Proud member of the right wing extremist Neanderthals.)
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To: madridkid
Re: Who is this guy? I never heard of him.

No disrespect, but, have you been living under a rock ?

6 posted on 03/18/2004 6:09:23 PM PST by ChadGore (kwitchyurbellyakin or bailthehellout!)
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To: blam
Col. Hunt
7 posted on 03/18/2004 6:09:27 PM PST by nuconvert (CAUTION: I'm an acquaintance of someone labelled "an obstinate supporter of dangerous fantasies")
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To: madridkid
Who is this guy? I never heard of him.
You sleep too much.
8 posted on 03/18/2004 6:10:13 PM PST by Spruce
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To: madridkid
Bill O'reilly is on Fox News and can sometimes be a real ass.
9 posted on 03/18/2004 6:10:53 PM PST by TBall
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To: madridkid
You mean David Rennie ?
10 posted on 03/18/2004 6:11:09 PM PST by nuconvert (CAUTION: I'm an acquaintance of someone labelled "an obstinate supporter of dangerous fantasies")
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To: nuconvert
"Col. Hunt"

Is that where O'Reilly got the info he read on his show? Hunt is usually pretty reliable...Isn't he?

11 posted on 03/18/2004 6:12:12 PM PST by blam
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To: blam
You know what, it might not be wise to try to catch this guy.

That is playing the game a little too fine in my book, especially at this stage of world affairs.

Ensure you DESTROY the islamoturd, pronto.
12 posted on 03/18/2004 6:13:09 PM PST by Enduring Freedom (Kerry is Unfit for Commander In Chief)
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To: blam
Let's hope they get him!
13 posted on 03/18/2004 6:13:24 PM PST by Unam Sanctam
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To: blam
Yes and no.
He's been wrong before.
I still like him, though.
14 posted on 03/18/2004 6:14:22 PM PST by nuconvert (CAUTION: I'm an acquaintance of someone labelled "an obstinate supporter of dangerous fantasies")
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To: blam
The sun is up in Pakistan by now. we should know something by morning if not sooner.
15 posted on 03/18/2004 6:15:23 PM PST by cripplecreek (you tell em i'm commin.... and hells commin with me.)
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To: madridkid

Here is his picture. Johnsama F'n Laden
16 posted on 03/18/2004 6:15:32 PM PST by keithtoo (W '04 - I'll pass on the ketchup-boy.)
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To: madridkid
Hmmm... now, that's strange.

Where have you been?
17 posted on 03/18/2004 6:15:49 PM PST by Pan_Yans Wife (Much of your pain is self-chosen. --- Kahlil Gibran)
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To: blam
The story about Zawahiri being dead and waiting on DNA just doesn't pass the smell test. Clearly the battle is not over yet, and we're hardly to the point where forensic teams are conducting lab tests.

The first Pakistani troops to take these guys on this week got their butt kicked, and that is when the regular army was invited. This is no raid on the level of taking on Usay and Quday. This is a battle with what amounts to the al-Qaida Army. Premature celebration on the part of O'Reilly or anyone else is not warranted.

We'll kill or capture everyone there. But it might take another day to do it.

18 posted on 03/18/2004 6:17:16 PM PST by Dog Gone
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To: madridkid
Who is this guy? I never heard of him.

Don't play your cards too early.

19 posted on 03/18/2004 6:17:25 PM PST by Shermy
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To: Dog Gone
The offense always has the advantage over the defense. It's just a matter of time
20 posted on 03/18/2004 6:21:11 PM PST by Blueflag (Res ipsa loquitor)
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