Bravo to those brave Pakistani commando's!
9-11 Plotter Nabbed in Pakistan
Saturday Sept. 14, 2002; 9:36 a.m. EDT
newsmax.com
In one of the biggest breakthroughs yet in the global war on terror, Pakistani commandos have nabbed a key al Qaeda suspect involved in plotting the 9-11 attacks, in a bloody gun battle that resulted in the deaths two other suspects along with the capture of up to eight additional al Qaeda members.
Ramzi Binalshibh is believed to have been a roommate of lead 9-11 hijacker Mohamed Atta at the time the World Trade Center attack plan was hatched, when the two shared an apartment in Hamburg, Germany. Investigators say Binalshibh desperately wanted to be included in the attacks but could never gain access to the U.S.
Though Binalshibh had four separate U.S. visa applications refused, he repeatedly tried to enroll in U.S. flight schools, and even wired money to one in Florida for pilot training.
A month before the attack, he sent $14,000 to Zacarias Moussaoui, dubbed "the 20th hijacker" by prosecutors, who was then taking flight training in Norman, Okla.
Ironically the captured 9-11 plotter became a familiar face to Americans just last week, when U.S. TV networks carried a video first broadcast by Al-Jazzerra TV featuring Binalshibh giving an on screen description of how the plot was hatched.
Also captured in the bloddy gun battle, according to at least one report, was Binalshibh's immediate supervisor in the attacks, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who probers believe was the head of Al Qaeda's military committee.
The al Qaeda supervisor has already been indicted in the U.S. for his suspected role in a 1995 plot to hijack 12 American airliners and crash some of them into U.S. landmarks.
Investigators consider Mohammed's capture particularly valuable, since he may be one of the few al Qaeda insiders who actually know the whereabouts of terror kingpin Osama bin Laden, the New York Post said.
Other reports, however, say that Mohammed remains a fugitive.
The disposition of the two suspects also remains mired in confusion. While the New York Daily News said Pakistani authorities have yet to turn Binalshibh and Mohammed over to U.S. authorities, the Post said that Binalshibh, at least, was in U.S. custody in Germany. |
