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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (44127)	5/1/2003 6:19:43 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

'50 more al-Qaeda men hiding in Karachi' By Azfar-ul-Ashfaque KARACHI: Three Arabs, including the prime suspect of USS Cole bombing, Waleed Muhammad bin Attash alias Khalid al-Attash, were given in the custody of the US officials on Thursday, where they were being interrogated in the presence of Pakistani intelligence officials. The three Arabs, Waleed bin Attash, Abu Ammar and Abdul Aziz, who is said to be nephew of Khalid Shaikh Muhammad, and seven other al-Qaeda suspects were arrested from Karachi on Wednesday. Initially, they were interrogated by local intelligence officials and then al-Attash, Abu Ammar and Abdul Aziz were handed over to the US agents here for questioning in the presence of Pakistani officials. Source told The News that Waleed, a Yemeni, had disclosed the presence of some 50 more al-Qaeda militants in Karachi. Waleed was being quizzed by the US officials about whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, future planning of the al-Qaeda and details of other militants, who were still at large, according to the sources. "Waleed told investigators that after the fall of Taliban some 75 al-Qaeda militants escaped to Karachi and out them some 50 militants are still hiding in the city," said a source. Asked about the extradition of Waleed and two other Arabs, a senior intelligence official said the Americans might shift them outside Pakistan once they get clearance from Islamabad. He did not elaborate. A spokesman for the Pakistan Rangers Sindh was reluctant to confirm the interrogation of Waleed and others by the US agents, saying that he (Waleed al-Attash) was being interrogated by a joint interrogation team. Waleed is said to be the key al-Qaeda operator and was allegedly motivating some local extremists to carry out suicide attacks against Americans. Waleed had delivered 'suicide motivation' lectures in various parts of the city, particularly in the Punjab Colony, to the activists of a banned outfit, said the sources, adding that he persuaded at least a dozen men for carrying out such missions. The sources claimed that suicide attacks were planned against the US establishments in the country, including diplomatic missions, as well as various local sensitive installations. It is also learnt that Waleed was the man, who escaped from an apartment in Defence area, from where key September 11, 2001, attacks planner Ramzi bin al-Shaiba was arrested on September 11, 2002 -- the first anniversary of the attacks in New York and Washington. In a related development, the sources said, the law-enforcement agencies have detained more than dozen more people for suspected links to al-Qaeda on Thursday. Four of them were identified as Nasarullah, Abu Daud, Abid and Fayyaz. Some of these arrested people hailed from Iran and Afghanistan, the sources added. "The investigations are underway and some of the arrested people may be released," said the Rangers spokesman, without elaborating. Agencies add: Brigadier Javed Cheema, head of the Interior Ministry's National Crises Management Unit, told AFP: Local investigators continued interrogating the al-Qaeda suspects. "They are still with us. We are investigating them right now. "The US teams have not joined interrogations yet. Later they might," he said. Cheema said the nationalities of the other five suspects were unconfirmed but he believed they included Pakistanis. "They look like Pakistanis. But it will take a little time before we reach a conclusion," he added.