'Where is bin Laden?'
2005-05-05 16:51
Islamabad - Interrogators questioning al-Qaeda's reputed No 3, Abu Farraj al-Libbi, have been repeating the same two questions over and over again: "Where is bin Laden?" and "What were your plans?", a senior Pakistani intelligence official said on Thursday.
Al-Libbi remained silent for hours after his capture this week before finally confessing his identity to his interrogators, whose findings were passed on to US officials, a second intelligence official told The Associated Press.
"Only two questions are being asked, over and over, and in different shifts: 'Where is bin Laden?' and 'What were your plans?"' said the first official, who has intimate knowledge of the interrogation.
No intelligence or government official would speak about the questioning of al-Libbi on the record.
Al-Libbi was arrested on Monday after a gunbattle with security forces in northwestern Pakistan.
Information minister Sheikh Rashid confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday that al-Libbi was still in Pakistan's custody and that he was being questioned, but declined to give details.
Two days after al-Libbi's arrest, security forces raided two homes in the northwestern tribal region of Bajor and arrested 11 terror suspects - three Uzbeks, an Afghan and seven Pakistanis.
Another intelligence official said some al-Qaeda linked militants had also been arrested in another tribal region during the past week, but refused to give details.
Meanwhile, security officials said on condition of anonymity that a junior air force technician, Mushtaq Ahmad, who was convicted and sentenced to death last year for involvement in the 2003 attacks on Musharraf has been recaptured after escaping custody in November. It wasn't clear where he was caught or when.
The attacks were allegedly masterminded by al-Libbi, but a number of military personnel have also been implicated.
Al-Libbi, who is thought to use at least five aliases, ranked below only Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahri and bin Laden himself in the terror group's hierarchy, US counter-terrorism officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Commandos seized al-Libbi along with another foreigner on Monday after a firefight outside Mardan, Pakistani officials said.
The arrests were announced on Wednesday.
The other suspect was not identified.
Witnesses said that armed Pakistani agents - some disguised in burqas, the all-encompassing garment worn by women in conservative Islamic families - ambushed two men as they rode a motorbike across a dusty graveyard on the outskirts of Mardan amid an exchange of gunfire.
The unidentifed suspect was arrested there, but al-Libbi fled to a nearby private guest house, where he tried to hide.
"I am a jihadi. Police are after me!" witness Bakht Munir quoted him as saying in the local Pashto language before the Libyan was tracked down by the commandos, who smoked him out of the guest house with tear gas and then led him away.
- AP