Posted on 08/06/2004 10:36:07 AM PDT by HAL9000
ISLAMABAD, Aug 6 (Reuters) - U.S. officials revealed the name of captured al Qaeda suspect Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan while he was still cooperating with Pakistani authorities, a Pakistani intelligence source has told Reuters.Khan e-mailed comrades on Sunday and Monday as part of a Pakistani sting operation against Osama bin Laden's network, the source said on Friday. But his name appeared in the New York Times on Monday following anonymous briefings by U.S. officials, raising suggestions their disclosure could have jeopardised the sting.
"He was cooperating with interrogators on Sunday and Monday and sent e-mails on both days," the intelligence source told Reuters. Khan was moved to a new location on Monday evening, he said.
U.S. officials revealed Khan's name in anonymous briefings with journalists after New York and Washington were put on high alert for a possible al Qaeda attack.
The officials said the alert was prompted after Khan's capture in Pakistan last month yielded documents, computers, surveillance reports and sketches. A string of arrests in Britain this week also resulted from Khan's detention.
"After his capture he admitted being an al Qaeda member and agreed to send e-mails to his contacts," the source said. "He sent encoded e-mails and received encoded replies. He's a great hacker and even the U.S. agents said he was a computer whiz."
The source said Khan had intended to hack into both the Federal Bureau of Investigation's website and a British official website to destroy them.
Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat, in an interview with Reuters on Friday, drew a veil over Khan's contribution to the recent breakthroughs against al Qaeda in Pakistan, Britain and the United States.
"This is a very sensitive subject. We must be very careful, we must exercise extreme caution in coming out with such names and such information," the Pakistani minister said.
"This name Khan keeps on cropping up time and again. I really cannot throw any light on this individual if at all he does exist."
Catching Khan is the biggest catch since the Paks nabbed Kalik Sheik Mohammad. And curses upon the person who leaked Khan's catch to the traitorous New York Times.
Well, there's also leaky Leahy, Shelby and others who are suspected of having released classified information.
The list grows longer than any of us should tolerate.
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