Ramzi Binalshibh, believed to be a planner of Sept. 11 attacks and alleged "20th hijacker" captured in Pakistan. Details to come.
First we should get him extradited; then we should have him tried by a military tribunal, convicted, and sentenced to death by hanging. After he is convicted but before he is executed, we should hand him over to the Mossad for further interrogation. I hear the Mossad has very effective means of interrogation.
Excellent. No denying that. Great Job.
That voice in the back of my mind says AlQaeda as strategic trading cards used as and when needed.
But no quibbling. This is a big catch. This guy made a videotape boasting about his allegiance to Osama.
The Raid - compiled from AFP, AP, and Jang news agency stories posted at:
http://freerepublic.com/focus/news/748750/posts
Note possible termination of Daniel Pearl's murderer. Also of interest, the sudden involvement of Pakistani Rangers who seem to have assumed custody of some prisoners thus facilitating turnover to U.S. authorities?
Pakistani police shot dead two suspected al-Qaida members and captured five others in a ferocious, four-hour gunfight Wednesday, 9/11, stepping up pressure on the remnants of the terrorist movement a year after it made its mark on the world.
Six officers, including two intelligence agents, were wounded when police stormed the top-floor apartment and the rooftop where the gunmen held out against hundreds of troops in the street below and on the roofs of nearby apartment blocks. Two of the wounded were reported in critical condition.
Karachi, a warren-like city of 12 million, has become a refuge for al-Qaida and Taliban fighters who fled Afghanistan when U.S.-led coalition forces chased them into the mountains bordering Pakistan after the collapse of the Taliban regime.
Authorities said earlier this week they have captured 402 al-Qaida activists in Pakistan since the start of the war on terrorism. Most have been turned over to U.S. authorities for questioning in the hunt for Osama bin Laden and other al-Qaida's leaders.
Last week, a reporter for the Gulf-based Al-Jazeera television network said he interviewed two of bin Laden's lieutenants in Karachi - Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Ramzi Binalshibh - both of whom admitted they helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks in the United States.
The attack began Wednesday morning when agents of Pakistan's intelligence agency and police raided the apartment after receiving a tip that suspicious people were living there.
Tracing a satellite phone call, an intelligence agency and police personnel killed two suspected al-Qaeda activists of foreign origin and arrested five others after an encounter here on Wednesday, police sources and eyewitnesses said. Among those arrested, there were two Pakistanis, two Arabs and a Tajik, all of whom were unable to speak Urdu, it was reliably learnt.
Eyewitnesses said at about 9:00 am, a large contingent of police and officials in plain clothes surrounded a three-storey residential building and arrested two foreigners, appearing to be Afghans or Arabs from outside the building. However, sensing danger, their other accomplices started firing and hurled hand grenades on the team of law-enforcement agencies injuring three cops.
The police returned the fire, however, due to heavy firing by the terrorists, more police force was called out and the entire area was cordoned off. A contingent of Rangers also reached the spot and joined the encounter. Police and Rangers also fired tear-gas shells. After two and half hours, some of the Jawans and police managed to enter the building.
Police sources said they arrested three "unarmed bearded men", who appeared to be Afghans or Arabs, from one of the apartments, and also recovered bodies of two suspected terrorists from another room.
The sources said two terrorists, who were arrested before the encounter, were in the custody of an intelligence agency, while the Rangers took custody of the remaining three accused after heated arguments with the police official, present on the spot. However, a spokesman of the Pakistan Rangers (Sindh) denied such a report and said that all the five persons were in the custody of Sindh police, who were investigating them.
Highly-placed sources told this correspondent that all the arrested accused were being investigated by a joint interrogation team, comprising officials of the intelligence agencies, police and the Rangers.
The gunmen fired and lobbed grenades from the apartment window, then fled to the roof where they took position on the corners, police and witnesses said.
It was unclear at what point the two militants were killed. An intelligence official said one of the gunmen inside the apartment scrawled "There is no God but Allah" in Arabic in his own blood on the tiles of the kitchen wall.
As the gunmen held out on the roof, police commandos in body armor and helmets entered the building and slowly worked their way to the upper floors. During a lull, police called on them to surrender. The gunmen responded with chants of "Allahu Akbar," or "God is Great."
Moments later, the siege ended. Police led two men out of the building, their faces covered by rags and their arms tightly bound behind them. The third captive was not seen by reporters outside.
Police, who had been stationed on the roofs of surrounding buildings, inside apartments and on the roads, fired in the air in celebration as the men were led away, most of the suspects bearded and blindfolded.
A senior police intelligence officer said the two dead suspects were Yemenis and one of them was suspected to be involved in the murder of US reporter Daniel Pearl in the city earlier this year.
"We have very strong suspicions that one of them was the one who beheaded Pearl," he told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"We are rechecking this information from other intelligence agencies but one of them looked like the person suspected of murdering Pearl," he said.
Witnesses saw police bring two blindfolded men from the building after an exchange of fire lasting more than three hours.
Two bearded young men emerged later in police custody, their clothing stained with blood.
A fifth bearded young man was brought out, shouting "Allah-o-Akbar" (God is great).
An AFP reporter saw slogans chalked on a wall in the street reading: "Long live al-Qaeda" and "Suicide attacks on America will continue." The writing was in Urdu.
Why? Because he get's nabbed after he openly interviews with Al Jazeera and challenges the FBI? Pakistan is infested with the likes of him. The few that are caught are merely a token gesture, and done under intense pressure. There are a lot more where he's been found. And it's not not limited to just that country anymore - almost every incident here has a pakistani connected.
You couldn't give Pakistan any credit if your life depended on it, Mike. Terrorists are being caught there, unlike in most other countries. Yet you manage to hold that against them.
This is why you do not sell stocks in good American corporations (wtf is he talking about?). I am talking about the fact you cannot predict when the news will turn positive and the saluatory ramp in the market. We hear the numnuts talking about this economic indicator or that, but the fact is this market is all about winners and losers coming out of the 9-11 attacks. Good luck and good investing.
And this is why the USA can deficit spend like no other nation on earth. We deficit spend and it's like we are calling in economic chips. Do not doubt for a second these arrests were not the direct result of American taxpayer support of the Pakistani military apparatus. I hate to sound premautely gleeful, but that part of the world is all about winners and losers. The USA has always had representation in Pakistan's military because we train their officers (in Ft. Bliss among other places). But, and a very important but, our prior administrations (I blame Bush one as much as Clinton) let the garden go to seed. My dad was supervising (at the battalion level) Paki officer army training back in the 60's. And they kept close tabs on our welcome guests. (they were porn fiends). But who an I to judge :). Good work and bravo to our Pakistani friends (we need all we can muster).
