Posted on Sat, Nov. 16, 2002
Senior al-Qaida leader taken into custody, officials say
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN
Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - A senior al-Qaida leader was captured overseas and is in American custody, U.S. officials say.
The officials, speaking Friday on condition of anonymity, would not provide an identity, but they did rule out several possibilities: Osama bin Laden; his chief deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri; suspected Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and bin Laden's son, Saad.
Since the Sept. 11 attacks the CIA, FBI and military have been making slow but steady progress in catching or killing the people they have identified as bin Laden's top lieutenants.
But a number of senior operatives remain at large, including those with ties to Sept. 11, the USS Cole bombing in October 2000, the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in Africa and other attacks.
Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, would not confirm that a new leader was in custody.
"When there is an arrest of a leader, it gives us opportunities," Shelby said. "At least it shows we're on top of things and we're going after the al-Qaida group and their affiliates and their associates wherever they are in the world."
A militant Islamic Web site that carries news about al-Qaida said Saturday the report of the captured leader is false.
"It is evident that this news is lies multiplied by lies," said the site, which has a history of carrying information about al-Qaida. "Maybe they fear to announce a certain name, and al-Qaida would issue a denial so their (the U.S.) situation would become worse."
On Nov. 3, the CIA killed bin Laden's top operative in Yemen, Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, in a missile strike launched from an unmanned Predator aircraft.
On the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. and Pakistan authorities captured Ramzi Binalshibh, another alleged planner of the strikes on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, in Karachi.
In March, CIA, FBI and Pakistani operatives captured Abu Zubaydah, a senior al-Qaida terrorist operations planner with worldwide connections. His associate, Abu Zubair al-Haili, was taken in Morocco in June.
Mohammed Atef, bin Laden's top deputy and operations planner, was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Kabul last November.
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