Posted on 09/22/2002 7:38:59 PM PDT by blam
Al-Qaida linchpin eludes his pursuers
Rory McCarthy in Karachi
Monday September 23, 2002
The Guardian
When Pakistani police dragged the blindfolded al-Qaida suspect Ramzi Binalshibh out of a bullet-ridden apartment block in Karachi and past the waiting cameras the arrest was hailed as a crucial breakthrough in the fight against Osama bin Laden's network. But the Guardian has learned that the target of the raid, a much more senior al-Qaida figure who agents had been tracking for several days, slipped away from the drab concrete building hours before. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, the Kuwaiti who heads Bin Laden's military command and is the suspected planner of the September 11 attacks, is still on the run in Karachi. The capture of Binalshibh, the alleged 20th hijacker, was little more than a lucky break in an otherwise unsuccessful operation. "We were not aware of Ramzi but we were told Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was there," a Pakistani intelligence source said.
Over the past two weeks, Pakistani investigators say they have twice traced Mohammad to apartments in Karachi, a congested port city on the coast of the Arabian Sea. At times they have come frustratingly close to their target: in the same raid that netted Binalshibh police found a four-year-old girl who they believe is Mohammad's adopted daughter.
The arrest of the Kuwaiti would mark perhaps the biggest single blow against the terror network since the September 11 attacks.
Conspiracy
Mohammad is believed to have helped another Islamist, Ramzi Yousef, in the first attack on the World Trade Centre in 1993. He was suspected of taking part in a plot hatched with Yousef in the Philippines' capital in January 1995 to bomb several US airliners over the Pacific. The plan was ditched after police found documents pointing to the conspiracy after a fire in Yousef's flat in Manila. Mohammad is also suspected of playing a role in the 1998 bombings of the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed 224 people.
Mohammad is a portly man with a round face, dark, thinning hair and brown eyes. Born in Kuwait he also carries a Pakistani passport.
He is thought to be the man who first suggested flying passenger aircraft into the World Trade Centre and the Pentagon. Earlier this year, Abu Zubaydah, a high-ranking al-Qaida leader arrested in Pakistan in March, identified Mohammad as the planner of the attacks. Some sources have told US officials that Mohammad also met the hijackers in Hamburg as early as 1999 to discuss the plot.
In an interview with the Arab news channel al-Jazeera in Karachi several weeks ago, Mohammad admitted his role in what he called "Holy Tuesday", describing how he had planned the "martyrdom operation inside America".
Washington believes the arrest of 37-year-old Mohammad could join the dots within the decentralised terror structure.
US intelligence has been pursuing Mohammad for years. Once, in 1995, it tracked him to a flat in Qatar but he had already fled. Earlier this month, FBI officers again came tantalisingly close when they traced a satellite telephone call in Karachi which they believe was made by Mohammad himself. The location was passed to Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency which, on September 10, raided an apartment in the Bahadurabad area of the city, where four laptops, a satellite telephone and $5,000 in cash were found.
A guard at the building then led them to a dull flat in a rundown business district. After a three-hour gun battle on September 11, police announced the arrest of Binalshibh and found documents relating to Mohammad and other al-Qaida suspects. Pakistan's military ruler General Pervez Musharraf announced his forces had "broken the terrorist network". But there was no trace of their original target.
The following day, new information led police to a bungalow in the Gulshan-e-Iqbal district, an area filled with similarly anonymous apartment blocks and houses surrounded by car mechanics' workshops and rubbish dumps. At least seven people were arrested at the bungalow, including an Egyptian woman who told agents that Mohammad had stayed in the building several times in recent weeks. But by now the trail had gone cold.
Police went back to the original flat and arrested an estate agent. Now they are hunting the man who signed the rental contract, a Pakistani identified as Nur-ul Islam. The well-spoken man caused little suspicion when he rented the flat out earlier this year.
Quick deal
"He was clean-shaven and I didn't pay any attention to him when he came to sign the agreement. He showed us his ID card and it was all in order," said an employee at the estate agency. But although most similar flats in the area rent for around 6,000 rupees (£67) a month, the prospective tenant was prepared to pay 7,500 rupees to secure a quick deal.
It is now clear that several senior al-Qaida figures are hiding in Karachi, among the 14m people who crowd the sprawling, industrial city. Security analysts say Karachi is peculiarly well-suited for Islamic militants to seek shelter. A wave of anti-American feeling means these men are frequently regarded as heroes for fighting the military might of the US in the war in Afghanistan and are often offered shelter.
"People are being stopped in the city just because they have a beard. There is reaction and resentment to this," said Meraj ul-Huda Siddiqui, the provincial leader of the Jamaat-e Islami, Pakistan's largest religious party.
Islamic militants have used the city as a base for fundraising and operations for many years. In the past decade, the most hardline groups have created a network of well-funded supporters across the city running discreet, carefully selected safehouses in the wealthiest districts.
"All the bills are paid on time, no mail is ever sent to the house and no one asks any questions," said Ikram Sehgal, a former army officer who runs one of Pakistan's largest security companies. These supporters have now been called upon to hide men like Mohammad from the gaze of the FBI. "Their strategy is still survival at the moment," said Mr Sehgal. "They want to live to fight another day."
stepping back in time...FAS.org -Article Snippet from the Counterterrorism section: "A February 26, 1993, explosion in the WTC's parking garage resulted in 6 deaths and 1,042 injuries. The blast, caused by a bomb made of about 1,200 pounds of explosives, resulted in a five-story crater with damage of over $500 million. On March 4, 1994, Muhammad Amin Salameh, Nidal Ayyad, Mahmud Abouhalima, and Ahmed Ajaj were convicted for their roles in the bombing. On April 25, 1994, each received a 240-year prison term and a $500,000 fine. Also, money they may receive from interviews or books must be turned over to the families of the six people killed in the bombing. Salameh's roommate, Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, also was found to be involved in the conspiracy. However, he left this country for Pakistan the day after the bombing on board a Pakistan International Airlines flight. On February 7, 1995, Yousef, a "Top Ten" fugitive, was arrested in Pakistan and was then turned over to the FBI."
I worry about that too.
It has been confirmed that there were, in fact, two raids in Karachi that day. The more publicized raid turned up Binalshibh. But another in the wee hours of the morning, prior to the publicized raid, was rumored to have netted another "big fish". The speculation being that it was Mohammed...
Yup, I saw that. In fact, I thought it was three raids.
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