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UK national held for Al Qaeda links
PESHAWAR, May 18: The authorities have arrested a British national suspected of holding links with the Al Qaeda terror network, officials said on Wednesday. The man, who identified himself as Shehzad, was arrested four days ago from the small town of Shabqadar, some 25 kilometres north of Peshawar, a security official told AFP requesting anonymity.
The secret service agents arrested him with the help of the anti-terrorism police force during a raid on a house and recovered computer and compact discs from the room, he said. “We think he is an Al Qaeda man,” the official said but declined to give further information about the investigation.
“We are gathering other information about him and his Pakistani national identity card gave us an address in Hyderabad,” the official said. Shehzad, 25, told interrogators that he was from London and arrived in Pakistan last year in March. The authorities this month arrested a number of Al Qaeda suspects, including Abu Faraj Al Libbi, allegedly a key aide of Osama bin Laden.
Afghan clerics defer jihad call against U.S.
by Qurban Ali Hamzi
Source: Reuters
FAIZABAD, Afghanistan - A group of Afghan Islamic clerics have deferred a call for holy war against the United States over a magazine report that U.S. interrogators desecrated the Koran after the report was retracted.
The clerics in Badakhshan province said on Sunday the United States should hand anyone guilty of desecrating the holy book to a Muslim country for prosecution in three days or they would declare jihad, or holy war, against the United States.
But Newsweek magazine, which first ran a story in its May 9 issue saying U.S. military interrogators at Guantanamo Bay had flushed a Koran down a toilet, on Monday retracted the report.
"We will consult and discuss our next move with other Ulemas," said the head of Badakhshan's council of clerics, Mullah Sadullah Abu Aman, when asked about the jihad call.
Ulema are Islamic scholars. Representatives will be sent out for talks with other clerics, he said.
"We are keen to take a unanimous decision about this," he said.
Aman said he suspected Newsweek had retracted the story because of U.S. government pressure following their call for holy war.
"The regret and retraction by the magazine clearly came after the issue of our deadline," he said.
Muslim clerics have traditionally been teachers and leaders in Afghan society and throughout its history they have rallied public opinion and sometimes led uprisings against unpopular rulers and foreign occupiers.
Muslims consider the Koran the literal word of God and treat each book with deep reverence.
The Newsweek report sparked violent protests in Afghanistan, where 16 were killed and more than 100 injured, as well as in Pakistan, Indonesia and Gaza last week. The reported desecration was condemned in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Bangladesh, Malaysia and by the Arab League.
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