Top al-Qaida suspect held in Pakistan

Wednesday 04 May 2005

Pakistani security forces have arrested Abu Faraj al-Libbi, a Libyan native accused of attempting to assassinate President Pervez Musharraf on two occasions.

Al-Libbi, who has a $1 million bounty on his head as a suspected al-Qaida leader, was arrested early on Tuesday morning along with a Pakistani national.

Aljazeera has learned that both men were captured after a shootout near the city of Mardan, about 50km north of Peshawar.

Al-Libbi is accused of masterminding two bombings against the president in December 2003. The military leader escaped both attempts, but the explosion killed 17 and injured many more.

Aljazeera's correspondent Ahmad Zidan said that this was the first major arrest of an alleged al-Qaida member in a non-Arab country since Ramzi BinalShibh's capture in Karachi 2002.

Musharraf, who came to power in a bloodless military coup in October 1999 and is a key ally in the US-led war on terrorism, said the Libyan was the chief suspect in the bombings against him.

Security officials have described al-Libbi as al-Qaida's operational commander in Pakistan who has led attacks against US forces in Afghanistan.

Al-Libbi was among six suspects identified as Pakistan's Most Wanted Terrorists in a poster campaign last year.