Senior al-Qaeda leader arrested in southwestern Pakistan

Senior al-Qaeda leader arrested in southwestern Pakistan

2011-09-06 06:53:36 GMT+7 (ICT)

QUETTA (BNO NEWS) -- A senior member of al-Qaeda who was personally tasked by Osama bin Laden to plan attacks against the United States and other countries has been arrested in southwestern Pakistan, officials said on Monday.

The Pakistani government said Younis Al Mauritani was one of three suspected terrorists arrested in the suburbs of Quetta, the largest city and the provincial capital of Balochistan Province. It did not say when the arrest took place.

According to Pakistani officials, Al Mauritani was mainly responsible for planning and conduct international operations and had been personally tasked by the late al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden to focus on hitting targets of economical importance in the United States, Europe and Australia.

"He was planning to target United States economic interests including gas/oil pipelines, power generating dams and strike ships/oil tankers through explosive laden speed boats in International waters," the Pakistani government said in a statement. "Trough this critical arrest yet another fatal blow has been delivered to al-Qaeda."

Pakistan said the operation was planned and conducted with technical assistance from U.S. intelligence agencies, which was confirmed by White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary Josh Earnest. "This is an example of the longstanding partnership between the U.S. and Pakistan in fighting terrorism, which has taken many terrorists off the battlefield over the past decade," Earnest said.

The spokesman added: "We applaud the actions of Pakistan's intelligence and security services that led to the capture of a senior al-Qaeda operative who was involved in planning attacks against the interests of the United States and many other countries."

In addition to the arrest of Al Mauritani, Pakistan also reported that two other 'senior' al-Qaeda members were arrested during the same operation in Quetta. It identified the suspects as Abdul Ghaffar Al Shami and Messara Al Shami, without giving other details.

The arrest of Al Mauritani comes just several months after global al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden was killed in the Pakistani city of Abbottabad. Bin Laden was killed on May 1st by special U.S. forces during a secret operation which had not been approved by the Pakistani government.

The arrest also comes only several months after Fazul Abdullah Mohammed, the presumed leader of al-Qaeda in East Africa, was shot dead by Somali Transitional Federal Government (TFG) forces at a checkpoint in Mogadishu. Fazul, who was killed in early June, was also a key suspect in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings that left hundreds killed.

Al-Qaeda was also behind the attacks of September 11, 2011, which left nearly 3,000 people killed.

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