Multan (Pakistan), Oct 26: Pakistan intelligence agents and dozens of police commandos captured a suspected senior Al-Qaida leader with a price on his head in the industrial city of Faisalabad, a police official said today. The official would not identify the suspect or give his nationality, but said he came from an Arab country. Interior ministry officials in Islamabad, the capital, were not immediately available to confirm the arrest.
The intelligence agents raided a house in Faisalabad yesterday, acting on information from two Yemenis arrested last Monday, who were caught during a routine security check at a roadblock outside the city, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Agents of the US Federal Bureau of Investigation were not involved in the operation, unlike in previous arrests of top Al-Qaida suspects in Pakistan, said the official.
Seven or eight intelligence agents climbed over a perimeter wall of the house, and 10 minutes later led out the blindfolded suspect.
They drove away in a jeep with black tinted windows to an unknown destination, he said. An assault rifle, a revolver and a suitcase were seized in the raid.
Based on the tip from the arrested Yemenis, the raid was expected to net about a half dozen suspects, but only one was taken from the house. The official did not say how much reward had been posted for him.
Bureau Report