Posted on 01/19/2004 1:56:22 PM PST by Dog
Pak seeks Al-Qaeda leader among arrested suspects; FBI called in Associated Press Karachi, January 19
Pakistani agents are struggling to determine whether an Al-Qaeda leader is among seven suspected members of the terror group arrested in a weekend raid, and they've called in the FBI to help interrogate them, intelligence officials said on Monday.
Officials said the suspects were two Egyptian and three Afghan men, and two Arab women. They wouldn't identify them further, and there's been no word on whether they were believed to be engaged in an active plot.
They were arrested in a raid on an apartment complex on Sunday, a day after President Gen. Pervez Musharraf renewed Pakistan's vow to fight terrorism. Five grenades, four handguns, ammunition and maps of Pakistan and Afghanistan were seized.
"Photographs of the arrested people have been taken and they are being matched with other pictures of Al-Qaeda suspects," an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity. "We are trying to establish whether any senior Al-Qaeda leader is among these people."
Agents from the US Federal Bureau of Investigation were set to join Pakistani intelligence officers on Monday or Tuesday in interrogating the suspects, the official said.
US Embassy officials were not immediately available for comment.
The Pakistanis had hoped to arrest a leader of a local Islamic militant organization in the raid on Sunday, but he was not there, the official said.
Adnan and Fauzan, two boys, who were temporarily detained by the law-enforcement personnel at the time of raid, as they wanted to go outside Cassim Complex to join their duties, told this correspondent that the a handcuffed man led the security personnel to the apartment.
What if they were after a bigger fish..
Amir Hussain Abdullah al-Misri ~~~ this is who they are saying was caught.
7 Al Qaeda suspects held
By Arman Sabir
KARACHI, Jan 18: Law enforcement agencies picked up seven people, including two women, in a pre-dawn raid on an apartment in Gulistan-i-Jauhar for their suspected links with Al Qaeda, officials said on Sunday.
"We have recovered five grenades, four TT pistols, a lot of ammunition, maps and other things from their apartment", said an intelligence official on condition of anonymity.
He said two of the men were Egyptian nationals and three were Afghans, while the two Arab women were probably of Egyptian origin. The raid was conducted on an apartment No.528, Block-A, Cassim Complex in Gulistan-i-Jauhar at around 3am, he added.
He said the two women were wives of an Egyptian and an Afghan, who were among five arrested. A visit to the apartment showed that its door was locked and most of the apartments in the residential complex were vacant.
Residents of the complex said that a number of police and rangers mobiles and private vehicles surrounded the complex in the early hours. Some 50-60 officials in police uniforms, rangers, and in civvies, went straight to the top floor flat where a family, who had rented the place some two months back, resided.
A youth, who lived in a downstairs apartment said: "I heard the officials broke open the door and I saw they dragged away five men who were in handcuffs." Another resident said there were two boys of four and five years and an infant in the lap of one of the women, who were whisked away by the raiding party.
The residents claimed that a youth, identified as Jani and resident of a third floor apartment, was also taken away by the officials. However, he was later released. After his release he along with his family left the apartment for an unknown destination.
A watchman of the complex, Munir Ahmed said: "Police, rangers and people in civvies turned up at around 3am and asked me to open the main gate. When I asked for the reason they said they wanted to raid an apartment. When I opened the gate they ordered me to stay in my room, adjacent to the gate."
An auto mechanic whose workshop is situated in the complex said the men residing in the said apartment preferred to stay inside their flat. An estate agent said the apartment was owned by the builder of the complex, and it was rented out through another estate agent, who could not be available at his shop. The police authorities expressed ignorance about the raid and arrest of Al Qaeda suspects.
My initial thought as well.
We were looking for one of the foreigners wanted for terrorist activity outside Pakistan,” Mr Rashid said. The intelligence official identified the suspect as Fazal Mohammad Abdullah al-Misri, who is considered an expert in making high-intensity bombs.
Looks like it is the bomber of the US Embassies in Africa..
This might spoil the party after the Hawkeye-Cauceye.
The computer and sat phone coupled with interrogation knowledge, could ruin al Qaeda and their democRATic enablers, come November.
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