ISLAMABAD, 9 August 2004 — A senior operative in Osama Bin Laden’s terror network was captured in the United Arab Emirates and turned over to Pakistan, the information minister said yesterday. The suspect was flown secretly to the eastern city of Lahore for interrogation in yet another blow to Al-Qaeda.
The man, Qari Saifullah Akhtar, used to run a vast terror camp in Rishkhor, Afghanistan which was visited by Bin Laden and Taleban chief Mulla Mohammed Omar, and where 3,500 men learned combat skills, including assassination and kidnapping.
Akhtar melted away in the hours before US bombing began in October 2001, and had not been heard from since.
“Yes we can confirm that we have Qari Saifullah,” Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told reporters. He said Akhtar had been arrested in Dubai “in the past week” and had been turned over to Pakistan, but he would not give any details into the raid. Officials in Dubai had no comment.
A Pakistani intelligence official said on condition of anonymity that Akhtar was being held in Lahore, where he was undergoing interrogation.
In Washington, the head of the White House’s office of counterterrorism said Akhtar’s arrest was significant, and that he was believed involved in two attempts in December to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf.
The arrest is “very important, particularly for Pakistan,” Fran Townsend said on “Fox News Sunday.” “He’s wanted in connection with the two assassination attempts on President Musharraf. He was also involved in the training camps in Afghanistan.”
Asked if Akhtar is thought to be someone who’s currently operational, Townsend said, “Absolutely. Absolutely.”
Ahmed, the information minister, said it was “premature” to say that Akhtar was involved in the assassination attempts.
Akhtar is said to have been active in several Kashmiri militant groups, including the Harakatul Jehad-e-Islami, whose members have fought as far afield as Chechnya and Bosnia.
