Posted on 08/07/2004 2:29:12 PM PDT by plushaye
ISLAMABAD (Reuters) - A senior al Qaeda operative who knew Osama bin Laden (news - web sites) and was linked to assassination attempts on Pakistan's president has been arrested in Dubai and handed over to Islamabad, Pakistani intelligence sources said Saturday.
Qari Saifullah Akhtar, a leader of the radical Islamic group Harkat-ul-Jihad-e-Islami, was arrested by authorities in Dubai Friday after Pakistan had requested his detention, and handed over to Islamabad Saturday.
The capture was the latest breakthrough in a broadening offensive against terrorist groups in Pakistan that has netted over 20 suspects in recent weeks including computer engineer Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan and top al Qaeda figure Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani.
One intelligence source said Khan e-mailed al Qaeda comrades while in custody as part of a sting by security agencies, but his name appeared in U.S. newspapers, which may have compromised the operation, according to experts.
Ghailani had a multi-million-dollar bounty on his head for his alleged role in the 1998 East African U.S. embassy bombings.
Information gleaned from Khan led to the arrest of 12 al Qaeda suspects in Britain earlier this week and the decision by the United States to put New York and Washington on high alert against possible al Qaeda attacks.
British newspapers said that among the 12 arrested was senior al Qaeda figure Abu Musa al-Hindi or Abu Eisa al-Hindi, and that he was believed to be plotting an attack on Heathrow airport.
In a separate development, Pakistani sources said on Saturday that authorities had arrested Fazal-ur Rehman Khalil, head of the banned Harkat-ul-Mujahideen group linked to an insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir (news - web sites), the Afghan Taliban and al Qaeda.
His arrest will be seen as a warning to other leaders of banned radical Islamic outfits that have re-emerged under new names. Some are sectarian, but several have links to al Qaeda.
AKHTAR KNEW OSAMA, OMAR
Pakistan's intelligence services used information gleaned from a spate of high-profile arrests of al Qaeda members in recent weeks, including those of Khan and Ghailani, to track down Akhtar, described by a source as "an operational head of al Qaeda in Pakistan."
He was with al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar in Afghanistan (news - web sites) at the time of the U.S.-led war against the hard-line Islamic militia late in 2001 and fled first to Saudi Arabia and then to United Arab Emirates.
Akhtar is also allegedly linked to two assassination attempts on Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in December and a bid to kill Prime Minister-designate Shaukat Aziz in July.
Radical Islamic groups are angered by Musharraf's decision to back the U.S.-led war on terror.
Pakistan has captured hundreds of al Qaeda suspects since the September 11, 2001 attacks, including the alleged mastermind of the hijacked airliner attacks on New York and Washington, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Many have been handed over to U.S. custody, and the government is considering doing the same with Khan and Ghailani.
Pakistan's crackdown on al Qaeda in recent weeks has raised international hopes of dealing the terror network a telling blow, but security experts warn that it is clearly still active in Pakistan and poses dangers across the globe.
The other thing about this news is that this Aktar was with bin Laden and Mullah Omar at the time of the Afghanistan war. He escaped Afghanistan but he could probably give some great clues about where bin Laden could be hiding.
KICK BUTT PAKISTAN!
Oops. He was actually captured in Dubai and handed over to Pakistan. Now he's in the gentle hands of Pakistani intelligence agents. He should be singing like a songbird about now.
Who needs France when we have Pakistan as an ally?
I hope they don't put underware on his head!
He sure don't look like Wyatt earp but he can do personal.
I agree. The Pakistani interrogators are not great believers in prisoners or detainees rights...
...except of course, that the the interrogators have the right to torture you as often as necessary to get you to talk.
You can bet the Paki's have his nuts in a vice about right now. This sh*t is really getting good. Terrorists are dropping like flies all over the globe.
There...that's better.
At least a couple of octive higher anyway.
Sure can. They tried at least twice to kill him and failed. That will their downfall.
One of the greatest achievements of the Bush admin's War on Terror is the turning of Musharraf against Al-Queda. It could be a combination of personal vendetta, monetary incentives, and political smarts, but Musharraf chose his side and went for Al-Queda throats. Pakistan has changed from being a hotbed of Al-Queda to a hot place for them to be. There has been quite a round-up of senior operatives in the last few months. The biggest fish (bin Laden, Zawahiri) are still out there but the net is closing on them.
LOL
I'll bet the interagators play background music:
"THE NUTCRACKER SUITE"
Fox news is reporting the computer geek the paky's caught was our mole. It's not on thier web sight yet this was just a few minutes ago.
> ... arrested in Dubai and handed over to Islamabad ...
Despite demanding to be sent to Gitmo :-)
All seriousness aside, the phrase quoted above is likely to
chill the spine of every Cult'O Death vandal at large.
LOL.
Stuff like this is why I love this place.
Yup. Check out: "Pakistan chasing fresh leads on al-Qaeda hideouts"
http://news.ft.com/cms/s/1322a65e-e7db-11d8-bae0-00000e2511c8.html
"Other sources of information used by Pakistani security have included Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, a Tanzanian wanted for the 1998 bombings of two US embassies in East Africa; a second African for whom the US has offered a reward of $5m; and at least 20 other members of al-Qaeda."
So Al-Queda bigwig Ghailani and others have started to sing too, at the hands of Pakistani intelligence. No surprise there. Today is, by the way, the 5th anniversary of the embassy bombings masterminded by Ghailani.
That hard drive is a treasure trove...
fyi..
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.