Posted on 06/15/2004 7:26:53 PM PDT by Indy Pendance
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (Reuters) - Pakistan said Tuesday that two suspected militants arrested in the past few days were related to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged brains behind al Qaeda's attacks on the United States on September 11, 2001.
Police arrested ten suspects in the southern port city of Karachi over the weekend, and ministers say one of them had a million dollar reward on his head.
"We have arrested Mosaib al Baluchi. He is a nephew of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. There is a reward of a million dollars on him from the Americans," Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat told Reuters Tuesday.
The minister said he had been passed the information by Pakistan's security agencies, but was uncertain if al Baluchi was the man's real name or one of his aliases.
There has been no confirmation from the U.S. side, and Hayat said Pakistani security agencies would not be handing al Baluchi over until they had finished interrogating him.
Confusion over his identity began when Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed announced the arrest late Sunday and gave the last name as Aruchi.
But both ministers insist he is a nephew of Mohammed, who Pakistan police caught early last year in the northern city of Rawalpindi and handed over to U.S. agents.
Hayat said Dawood Badani, another of the men captured over the weekend, was also a distant relative of Mohammed.
Badani is a member of the outlawed Sunni Muslim Lashkar-e-Jhangvi group and is suspected of orchestrating attacks that have killed dozens of members of Pakistan's Shi'ite Muslim minority.
FAMILY TIES
Badani is brother-in-law to Ramzi Ahmed Yousef, who is serving life imprisonment in the United States for the first attack on World Trade Center in 1993 and planning to blow up American passenger planes.
Yousef is also a nephew of Mohammed.
The government is now saying al Qaeda was behind a wave of terror that killed at least 70 people in Karachi, the country's biggest city, since early May.
"Al Qaeda is at the back of terror attacks in Karachi," Hayat said after meeting President Pervez Musharraf and top security officials in the port city Tuesday.
Many observers originally attributed a series of bomb blasts and assassinations to sectarian violence between Sunnis and Shi'ites.
But an attack in broad daylight on the Karachi army chief last Thursday marked a clear challenge to the government, and the boldest and most direct attack since two assassination attempts on Musharraf last December.
Besides Mohammed's relatives, Pakistani security forces over the weekend also arrested another eight men suspected of links with al Qaeda, on charges of carrying out the ambush on Karachi Corps Commander Ahsan Saleem Hayat's motorcade.
Hayat survived, but 10 other people were killed.
The authorities are sure al Qaeda inspired the attackers, just as they say al Qaeda pulled the strings in the assassination attempts on Musharraf in December.
"It is using local groups for this purpose, ingraining their members with an ideology of hatred and extremism," Hayat said.
The minister said all eight suspects received terror training in a remote tribal area bordering Afghanistan where Pakistani forces killed at least 55 foreign and local militants during five days of fighting in an operation that ended on Sunday.
They say it's bad luck to go into business with your brother-in-law.....
Ha, ha.
Either you believe all the attacks on the US were done by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or (like Mylroie) you believe these thugs are Bluchis working for Iraqi intel under false identities. I vote for the latter, and hope someone will finally perform some DNA tests.
Either you believe all the attacks on the US were done by Khalid Sheikh Mohammed or (like Mylroie) you believe these thugs are Baluchis working for Iraqi intel under false identities. I vote for the latter, and hope someone will finally perform some DNA tests.
How many times do I have to tell you-- they're all in Pakistan.
Except for those who are hiding in Iran, Syria, and Saudi Arabia. The trick is to get them without toppling Musharraf's government or declaring war on Iran or SA. IMO we should have invaded Syria months ago.
Yes, I be livin' off da fat in Karachi. And I am livin' it up mon! Why you need twenty tree tousand soldiers to search for me? I be loungin' around at the Hilton while you Paki punks be tryin' to track me hass down. Ha! Ha! I be slick like dat mon! Catchoo you da flip side bruda! One luv!
Another Baluchi:
Al Qaeda Agent's 9/11 Role Comes Into Focus
LAT ^ | May 21, 2006 | Richard A. Serrano
Posted on 05/21/2006 7:52:57 PM PDT by FairOpinion
Ammar al-Baluchi, once considered a bit player, is alleged to have served as trainer and banker for several of the hijackers.
Until recently, Ammar al-Baluchi was considered a peripheral player in Al Qaeda, a functionary who made travel arrangements and wired money for terrorists.
But new government disclosures place Baluchi in a larger role in the Sept. 11 preparations and rank him No. 4 among the conspirators captured by U.S. forces after the 2001 terrorist attacks.
Indeed, investigators say he was instrumental in acquiring a Boeing 747 flight simulator and a Boeing 767 flight-deck video for the hijackers to practice on before heading to the United States.
"He was turning up everywhere we looked — like a chameleon," recalled one federal agent who spoke on condition of anonymity because of ongoing investigations.
A man of many names, Baluchi seemed to have his hand in everything.
He allegedly served as travel agent, personal banker and mother hen for at least nine of the 19 hijackers, sending them off from Dubai, United Arab Emirates, for their fateful rendezvous in the United States.
Baluchi also reportedly sent onetime "dirty bomb" suspect Jose Padilla on his way to Chicago with thousands of dollars and travel documents, though Padilla was captured as he stepped off the plane.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Laurie Mylroie has long contended that this "family" is in fact a bunch of Baluchis whi were working for Iraqi intel. We have many of them in custody yet and still have not undertaken simple DNA testing to test that hypothesis. Ain't that grand?
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.