Posted on 05/04/2005 8:17:57 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
THE capture by Pakistani forces of al-Qaeda's alleged third in command has raised hopes that Osama bin Laden may be captured alive, security officials said.
Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the suspected mastermind of two attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf, has a key role in the terror network, according to a copy of a classified US Central Intelligence Agency list.
The CIA list of most wanted men dating from last year put al-Libbi at No.3 after Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri, calling him the "newly reported chief of external operations for al-Qaeda".
The list said al-Liddi had a $US5 million ($6.4m) bounty on his head and described him as "senior al-Qaeda operations commander and personal assistant of bin Laden".
Pakistan announced on Wednesday that it had captured the Libyan national, also Pakistan's most wanted man, after a brief shootout two days earlier in the north-west of the country.
Security officials believe al-Libbi has been in contact with bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, whose whereabouts remain a mystery three years after a US-led invasion toppled the Taliban, al-Qaeda's hosts in neighbouring Afghanistan.
US and Pakistani officials believe they are hiding in the mountainous border region between Pakistan and Afghanistan, but there has been no sign of either.
"Al-Libbi is one of bin Laden's closest confidants and he should be able to provide new leads about both Osama and Ayman Al-Zawahiri," a senior security official involved in anti al-Qaeda operations in Pakistan said on condition of anonymity.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said al-Libbi was being interrogated by Pakistan security forces at an undisclosed location.
US President George W. Bush welcomed al-Libbi's capture, calling it "a critical victory" in the global war on terrorism declared by Washington after Osama bin Laden's network carried out the September 11 attacks.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the arrest underlined Pakistan's resolve in the battle against terrorism.
Pakistan had posted a reward of 20 million rupees ($US333,333) for al-Libbi's arrest.
Officials said al-Libbi took over al-Qaeda operations in Pakistan after the arrest in March 2003 of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the key planner of September 11, 2001 attacks on US, and the network's former third in command.
"Through Khalid Sheikh Mohammed we learnt that bin Laden was alive, and we hope al-Libbi should take us further," the official said.
Mr Musharraf has previously named al-Libbi as the ringleader in the attempts to assassinate him in December 2003.
In the first, militants blew up a road bridge as he drove past while the second happened on Christmas Day, when suicide bombers detonated their vehicles near his motorcade, killing more than a dozen.
Police sources said the militant was captured in a dramatic gun battle after he and another man riding a motorcycle near a shrine in the town of Mardan were intercepted on an intelligence tip off.
The capture of al-Libbi is the latest in a string of key arrests by Pakistan since Mr Musharraf allied himself with Washington after September 11.
UBL and Zawahiri - One of these mornings we are all going to wake up to great news! - "we got'em" -
Who's hoping he'll be captured alive? Barbara Boxer? "Osama Mama" Patty Murray?
Personally, I want to see his head on a pike.
No way this happens without a mole who is probably still in place. We're getting into their heads, no doubt. All wars are fought within economic limits and ours are far greater than al Qaeda's, that will be their downfall, loyalty crumbles under greed every time.
I would love to be optimistic but for some reason I'm not.....going on four years now.
Somthing's not right here. We could have had Zarqawi, Bin Laden and Bigfoot by now.
More to the story:
One Pakistan intelligence official said authorities were led to the hideout by a tip that foreigners had been spotted in the area. Another acknowledged that information from the Americans helped Pakistan plan a well-coordinated operation, but said Pakistan also obtained intelligence from militants it arrested months ago.
Al-Libbi had differences with Uzbeks and other militants who had been reluctant to accept him as a leader, hinting at a possible rift within al-Qaida's ranks, according to one of the Pakistani officials.
Huh?
"Could'a" is a wide net. Seems like we're getting pretty close.
P.S. al-Libbi had been with UBL since 1991 in the Sudan. With so many familiars gone, al-Qaeda will have to fill the top ranks with zealots that don't have the age or seasoning to work well with each other. Leadership rivalries should start to split up the ideological drivers.
You're not one of those folks who "knew" OBL was dead, are you?
IMO, I think its more likely that they could get more information out of the #2, 3 or 4, people in his "command" it seems like the lower they are from the top, the more likely they would be to give up a bit of Intel.
I hope those mean Pakistani security forces don't put panties on his head.
I'll be that right now he is wishing he had surrendered to the Americans.
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