More arrests to be expected:
http://paktribune.com/news/index.php?id=84101
US appeal to contact Qaeda operatives in Pak custody rejected
Saturday November 20, 2004 (1511 PST)
ISLAMABAD, November 21 (Online): Pakistan has rejected US Intelligence Authorities appeal to access terrorists Osama Nazir and Naveedul Hassan earlier arrested by Pakistani security forces at Faisalabad and Lahore.
Interior Ministry sources said that US intelligence authorities wanted to access held terrorists but the government rejected the appeal and said that decision regarding US intelligence contacting held terrorists would be taken after the completion of terrorists' investigation.
Meanwhile Joint Investigating team of Law Enforcement Agencies has started investigation from two terrorists.
Sources further said that both the terrorists have been shifted to an undisclosed location, where Joint Investigating team comprising of high level officials of sensitive departments are busy in further investigation from miscreants.
Responsible authorities of National Crises Management Cell of Interior Minister said that arrests of other wanted terrorists in Punjab and Sindh are also possible after the completion of the probe from these two terrorists.
Authorities said that Intelligence agencies would start operation to nab other anti-state elements after investigating the held terrorists
Okay....So now what's up?
Pakistan Ends Bin Laden Search in Border Region
Saturday, November 27, 2004
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Pakistan army says it's withdrawing troops from the area where Usama bin Laden (search) and a top aide are believed to be hiding.
The withdrawals from the region near the Afghanistan border follow intense military operations by thousands of troops against remnants of bin Laden's Al Qaeda (search) organization and its allies.
The top Pakistan general in the region says the army is removing checkpoints in return for local tribesmen's support against foreign militants. He adds that some Pakistani soldiers will remain nearby.
Although the tribal region is considered a possible hiding place for bin Laden and his deputy, a senior Pakistan general has said there's been no sign of them.
But earlier this month, the deputy commander of U.S. Central Command said it was "essential" that Pakistan continue military operations in the area.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,139760,00.html
The suspect later said he was a Chechen named Abdul Ghaffar and had recently left Wana, the main town in South Waziristan — the region where Pakistani security forces have been hunting militants linked to Al-Qaeda, Yaqoob added.
Wana lies about 400 kilometers (248 miles) northeast of Quetta, the capital of restive Baluchistan province.
“We have arrested a suspected terrorist when he was running after a failed robbery attempt in a money changer’s shop,” Yaqoob said. Three of the Chechen’s accomplices managed to escape and were being hunted by police, he added. There were no casualties from the grenade blast.
Ghaffar, aged about 35 and well-built, said he and his companions were starving and had no money which forced them to make the robbery attempt, city Mayor Muham-mad Rahim Kakar told AFP.
Ghaffar told investigators the group came to Quetta as the authorities had pushed the militants out of South Waziristan, Rahim said.
Since early this year Pakistan, a key US ally in its war on terror, has conducted several major operations near Wana. It has destroyed hideouts and training camps of militants linked to Osama bin Laden’s terror network.
Pakistan pushed about 75,000 regular troops into the area to hunt up to 600 Al-Qaeda and Taliban fighters believed to have crossed from Afghanistan after the late 2001 ousting of the hardline Islamic Taliban regime.
Military officials say fewer than 100 of the estimated 600 foreign militants, including Chechens and Uzbeks, are still in Pakistan, while others have either been killed or fled to Afghanistan.