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PESHAWAR, Aug 18: A son-in-law of Al Qaeda No 2 Dr Ayman Al-Zawahiri is believed to be the mastermind of the plot to blow up transatlantic flights and he met one or some of the plotters at a place close to the Pakistan-Afghan border, credible sources told Dawn. “The mastermind in the planes bombing plot is Zawahiri’s son-in-law,” said the sources who did not want to be named. “He is the guy being looked for,” they added. Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant is known to have several sons-in-law. One of them was reported to have been killed in a...

Pakistani security sources said yesterday that al-Qaida's "number three" was behind the alleged plot to blow up several transatlantic flights leaving the UK. They also suggested Britain wanted to allow the plotters to try a dry run, without explosives, so as to gather more evidence, but was persuaded to intervene earlier by US and Pakistani authorities. British detectives are in Islamabad working with the Pakistani security services with regard to Rashid Rauf, the Briton held in connection with the alleged plot. No decision has been made as to whether he will be extradited to Britain. Abu Faraj al-Libbi, who after...

Every year, as we enter a New Year, my mind goes back to Daniel Pearl, the Mumbai-based American correspondent of Wall Street Journal, who met with a brutal end to his young life during a visit to Karachi in January 2002 to enquire, inter alia, into the suspected Pakistani links of international jihadi terrorists. In his keenness to find out the truth, Pearl fell into a treacherous trap laid by a mixed group of Pakistani terrorists belonging to different organisations and orchestrated by Omar Sheikh, a British resident of Pakistani origin, who had participated in the so-called jihad against the...

Bomb-maker killed as US exploits ethnic rifts in al-Qa'eda By Massoud Ansari in Karachi and Philip Sherwell in Washington (Filed: 15/05/2005) A leading al-Qa'eda bomb-maker has been killed in a US missile strike as America and Pakistan exploit worsening ethnic rifts within the terror network. The death of Haitham al-Yemeni comes shortly after Pakistan captured Osama bin Laden's suspected third-in-command using intelligence from disaffected militants. Abu Faraj al-Libbi was traced after exiled Uzbek fighters on the Pakistan-Afghan border who had fallen out with al-Qa'eda's Arab-dominated leadership gave Pakistani intelligence officials his mobile phone number.The capture of al-Libbi and death of...

Senior Al Qaeda Operative Struck by Predator Missile May 13, 2005 — A senior al Qaeda operative was killed by a missile fired from a CIA Predator aircraft on the Pakistani side of the remote area near the Afghan border earlier this week, U.S. intelligence officials told ABC News. Haitham al-Yemeni, a native of Yemen known for his bomb-making skills, had been tracked for some time in the hope that he would help lead the United States to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, intelligence officials said. But with the recent capture in northwest Pakistan of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, thought...

Intelligence officials who have been questioning Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the senior al-Qa'eda suspect arrested last week, have cast doubt over claims by the Pakistani prime minister, Shaukat Aziz, that the interrogation is "proceeding well". The officials say that al-Libbi, who is believed to be al-Qaeda's number three, has defied efforts to make him reveal valuable intelligence about its senior hierarchy, despite coming under "physical pressure" to do so. More than a dozen low-key al-Qa'eda targets were arrested in Pakistan last week thanks to information stored on al-Libbi's satellite telephone. Yet early hopes among both American and Pakistani intelligence officials that...

THE capture of a supposed Al-Qaeda kingpin by Pakistani agents last week was hailed by President George W Bush as “a critical victory in the war on terror”. According to European intelligence experts, however, Abu Faraj al-Libbi was not the terrorists’ third in command, as claimed, but a middle-ranker derided by one source as “among the flotsam and jetsam” of the organisation. Al-Libbi’s arrest in Pakistan, announced last Wednesday, was described in the United States as “a major breakthrough” in the hunt for Osama Bin Laden. Bush called him a “top general” and “a major facilitator and chief planner for...

From DEBKAfile Special Correspondent in Pakistan The high profile arrest Monday, May 3, of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, 40, the man responsible for al Qaeda’s operational planning and execution in Pakistan, was followed three days later by the capture of 18 members of his network. He was taken after a gun battle in the Mardan Division of Pakistan's North Western Frontier Province which borders Afghanistan. DEBKAfile’s intelligence sources sayal-Libbi, a Libyan national aged 40, moved to Mardan recently from his Waziristan hideout when a Pakistani Army military operation made it unsafe. The new Mardan hideout was raided by officers of the...

Pakistan continues to show its commitment to the war on terror. Earlier this week they arrested Abu Faraj al-Libbi -- al Qaeda's alleged No. 3 man after a shootout. Over the last 48 hrs. authorities have arrested 18 people thought to be part of his terrorist network.

U.S. officials are working feverishly to decipher numbers and apparent codes in a notebook retrieved from suspected al Qaeda leader Abu Faraj al-Libbi, ABC News has learned. Al-Libbi -- believed to be third in command of al Qaeda leader after Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri -- was arrested by Pakistani authorities on Monday. He is suspected of leading two failed assassination attempts on the life of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Sources said officials believe al-Libbi's seized notebook contains "hot" contact information. They said officials are hopeful the notebook contains useful information because al-Libbi was stunned when he was captured....

U.S. officials are working feverishly to decipher numbers and apparent codes in a notebook retrieved from suspected al Qaeda leader Abu Faraj al-Libbi, ABC News has learned. Al-Libbi — believed to be third in command of al Qaeda leader after Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri — was arrested by Pakistani authorities on Monday. He is suspected of leading two failed assassination attempts on the life of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf. Sources said officials believe al-Libbi's seized notebook contains "hot" contact information. They said officials are hopeful the notebook contains useful information because al-Libbi was stunned when he was captured....

Zarqawi Losing Support Among Iraqis, General Says By John D. Banusiewicz American Forces Press Service WASHINGTON, May 5, 2005 – Any remaining support among Iraqis for fugitive Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi is fading as his network's attacks continue to take aim at their country's security forces and civilians, the director of operations for the Joint Staff said at a Pentagon news conference today. Marine Lt. Gen. James T. Conway, who commanded the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force during two combat tours in Iraq, said he's "absolutely confident" that if Zarqawi stays in Iraq, he'll be captured or killed. "And I...

ISLAMABAD - Pakistani security officials said Thursday they hoped the capture of a Libyan accused of being Al-Qaeda's number three and of planning to kill President Pervez Musharraf could lead them to Osama bin Laden. Intelligence agents said they had separately recaptured an air force officer who escaped jail late last year after being sentenced to death in one of the assassination plots masterminded by top terror suspect Abu Faraj al-Libbi. In another apparent coup, officials said a second militant seized on Monday with al-Libbi, who has a five-million-dollar US bounty on his head, was himself a key Al-Qaeda figure...

THE capture by Pakistani forces of al-Qaeda's alleged third in command has raised hopes that Osama bin Laden may be captured alive, security officials said. Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the suspected mastermind of two attempts to kill President Pervez Musharraf, has a key role in the terror network, according to a copy of a classified US Central Intelligence Agency list. The CIA list of most wanted men dating from last year put al-Libbi at No.3 after Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian deputy Ayman Al-Zawahiri, calling him the "newly reported chief of external operations for al-Qaeda". The list said al-Liddi had...

ISLAMABAD, May 4 - Pakistani authorities said today that they had arrested a senior Al Qaeda operative suspected of orchestrating two assassination attempts against the Pakistani president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf. Abu Faraj al-Libbi, described by some counterterrorism officials as the third-most senior leader in the Al Qaeda terrorist network, was arrested on Tuesday, the Pakistani information minister, Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, said this afternoon. A native of Libya, Mr. Libbi was captured during a raid in South Waziristan, the tribal redoubt of Al Qaeda fighters and their Islamist sympathizers, Mr. Ahmed said. "This is a big catch," Mr. Ahmed said in...

Senior Libyan al-Qaeda suspect Abu Faraj al-Libbi has been arrested in Pakistan, the government says. Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said the suspect had been caught earlier in the week. He would give no details of the arrest. Other reports said two suspects were captured in the Waziristan region of North West Frontier Province on Monday. Libbi is said to have become third in the al-Qaeda hierarchy after Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was caught in 2003. He is wanted in connection with two attempts on the life of Pakistan's President Pervez Musharraf. More details soon.