'No new clues on bin Laden'
2005-05-16 11:10
Hong Kong - The arrest of al-Qaeda operative Abu Faraj al-Libbi has failed to provide any clues on Osama bin Laden's whereabouts, Pakistani leader Pervez Musharraf was quoted as saying on Monday.
The Pakistani military ruler, speaking to the Financial Times, hailed this month's arrest of al-Qaeda's alleged number three as vital in helping to sever links between the terror network's members and central command.
"We have broken their back," Musharraf said. "They cease to exist as a cohesive, homogenous body under good command."
He added: "Whatever they are now capable of doing is individual and group actions divorced from central command and co-ordinated centrally. They are on the run in the mountains, not in contact with each other."
Although the arrest had not led investigators to bin Laden, the al-Qaeda chief blamed for the September 11 attacks, it had led to other key arrests in Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi, Musharraf was quoted as saying.
The Pakistani leader, a key US ally in the Afghanistan campaign, was the target of two assassination attempts in December 2003 allegedly masterminded by al-Libbi, and Musharraf voiced personal satisfaction at his arrest.
"He is the man who was in charge of al-Qaeda operations, internal and external and, of course, on a personal basis the man who masterminded the suicide attacks on me," Musharraf said.
The Pakistani coup leader turned civilian president said he believed the terror network was now badly damaged, though still operational.
"I can't say for sure that we finally nailed them and finished them," he said. "I can't say that.
"But we have taken over their sanctuaries, their communications centres, and left them in small batches, on the run and up in the mountains, relying on human couriers.
"I can certainly say with [a] fair amount of surety that their linkage is very seriously damaged.
"My personal view is they lack the horizontal and vertical cohesion which is so essential in the homgeneity of an organisation."