Pakistan on Monday said it had arrested senior al Qaeda leader and two other operatives of the global terrorist organisation from the outskirts of Quetta.
The al Qaeda leader, Younis al-Mauritani, was responsible for conducting international operations and ordered by Osama bin Laden to hit US, European and Australian economic targets. A senior official seeking anonymity said Mauritani and the other two were arrested last week from the Satellite town area of Quetta. Announcing the arrests, the ISPR said the US helped the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) make the arrests. The statement suggested that Pak-US relations, which were seriously damaged by the killing of Osama bin Laden in a covert raid by American Special Forces early this year, had improved. The ISPR statement said Mauritani was planning to target US economic interests, including gas and oil pipelines, power generating dams and strike ships and oil tankers through explosives-laden speed boats. “In an intelligence-driven operation by the ISI in coordination with Frontier Corps Balochistan, a senior al Qaeda leader, Younis al-Mauritani, mainly responsible for planning and conduct of international operations, was nabbed along with two other senior al-Qaeda operatives, Abdul Ghaffar Al Shami (Bachar Chama ) and Messara al-Shami (Mujahid Amino) from the suburbs of Quetta,” the statement said. It said, “Al Mauritani was tasked personally by Osama Bin Laden to focus on hitting targets of economical importance in the US, Europe and Australia. He was planning to target US economic interests including gas/oil pipelines, power generating dams and strike ships/oil tankers through explosive laden speed boats in International waters.” It said both Pakistani and US intelligence agencies continued to work closely together to enhance security of their respective nations. An official, who spoke on condition of anonymity said, “It was a joint operation in a sense that ISI was provided with the required technical assistance by CIA to nab Mauritani and other al Qaeda leaders,” he said. Some unconfirmed media reports suggested that the three al-Qaeda leaders had been handed over to the US, however, an official rejected the reports, saying that “has not happened yet”. “It has happened in the past as well that foreigners involved in terrorism were handed over to US and Mauritani and others arrested with him could also be given in the custody of the American authorities,” he said. Reacting to the reports of arrests, The White House hailed the country’s efforts to capture the senior al Qaeda leader believed to have been plotting attacks on the US.
