Free Republic

LONDON -- Police in Britain are holding a senior al-Qaeda operative who was allegedly planning an attack on London's main Heathrow Airport, major newspapers reported today. In a front-page article, The Times said the man was arrested after a tip-off from Pakistani intelligence, which claimed he was getting orders directly from Osama bin Laden "as head of al-Qaeda operations in Britain." It cited unidentified Pakistani officials as saying that details about Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport, were found in the computer of a suspected al-Qaeda member arrested last month in Pakistan, Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan. According to The Times,...

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Pakistani authorities gave British authorities images of London's Heathrow Airport and other sites that were found on computers belinging to two arrested al-Qaida fugitives, intelligence officials said Thursday. It was not clear if the information played a role in the Tuesday arrests of 13 people in Britain. One was released and the rest were being questioned. Maps, photographs and other details of possible targets in the United States and Britain were found in computers belonging to Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani - a Tanzanian indicted for his role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa...

LAHORE, Pakistan, Aug. 2 - In mid-May, a C.I.A. expert on Al Qaeda briefed Pakistani law enforcement officials on the existence of an elusive operative who was said to be eager to attack Americans, according to a Pakistani intelligence official. Nearly two months later, Pakistani officials traced him to the port city of Karachi and then here. On July 13, they made an arrest in the case, picking up Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a 25-year-old computer engineer, when he went to the airport to collect a package from his father. Pakistani officials say the arrest of Mr. Khan led officials...