Al-Qaeda mastermind held
2005-05-04 14:16
Islamabad - Abu Faraj Farj al-Libbi, allegedly number three in the al-Qaeda network and a close associate of Osama bin Laden, has been captured in Pakistan, the country's information minister told AFP on Wednesday.
Al-Libbi, a native of Libya, was captured along with five other foreign Al-Qaeda operatives over the weekend in the lawless Pakistani tribal area of N North Waziristan, Sheikh Rashid said.
"I can confirm that we have arrested Abu Faraj al-Libbi," Rashid said.
Pakistan has posted a reward of 20 million rupees ($333 333) for the arrest of al-Libbi. The United States has also offered a five-million-dollar reward for his arrest.
Pakistan's military leader President Pervez Musharraf has previously blamed al-Libbi for masterminding two attempts to kill him in December 2003.
The capture is the latest in a string of high-profile al-Qaeda arrests in Pakistan since Musharraf allied himself with the United States more than three years ago.
Security officials said al-Libbi took over the command of al-Qaeda in Pakistan after the capture in March 2003 of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, believed to be the key planner of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.
In January, Islamabad said it had handed Tanzanian Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, who was on the FBI's most wanted list for the 1998 bombing of US embassies in East Africa, over to American custody.
Last year Pakistani forces killed al-Qaeda kingpin Amjad Farooqi, who was indicted in the gruesome 2002 abduction and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl.
Pakistan has arrested around 700 al-Qaeda suspects, most of whom have been handed over to US custody and taken to Guantanamo Bay in Cuba, according to officials.