Al-Qaida setback as Pakistan nets leader
Source: Agencies |
September 6, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A BATTERED al-Qaida suffered another significant blow when Pakistani agents working with the CIA arrested a senior leader believed to have been tasked by Osama bin Laden with targeting American economic interests around the globe, Pakistan announced yesterday.
Younis al-Mauritani's arrest - made public five days before the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks - was seen as damaging al-Qaida's central leadership in Pakistan, further degrading its ability to mount terrorist attacks abroad. The terrorist organization has seen its senior ranks thinned since Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2 along with Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the group's No. 2, in a CIA missile strike last month.
Pakistan's public announcement of close cooperation with the United States spy agency appeared aimed at reversing the widespread perception that ties between the Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency had been badly hurt by the US killing of bin Laden inside Pakistan.
The Pakistani military said the arrest of al-Mauritani and two other al-Qaida operatives took place near the Afghan border in the southwestern city of Quetta, long known as a base for militants. It did not say when. The arrests were carried out in the past two weeks, according to an anonymous American official.
The Pakistani military statement said al-Mauritani was mainly responsible for al-Qaida's international operations and was tasked by bin Laden with hitting targets of economic importance in America, Europe and Australia.
Younis al-Mauritani's arrest - made public five days before the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks - was seen as damaging al-Qaida's central leadership in Pakistan, further degrading its ability to mount terrorist attacks abroad. The terrorist organization has seen its senior ranks thinned since Osama bin Laden was killed on May 2 along with Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the group's No. 2, in a CIA missile strike last month.
Pakistan's public announcement of close cooperation with the United States spy agency appeared aimed at reversing the widespread perception that ties between the Central Intelligence Agency and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency had been badly hurt by the US killing of bin Laden inside Pakistan.
The Pakistani military said the arrest of al-Mauritani and two other al-Qaida operatives took place near the Afghan border in the southwestern city of Quetta, long known as a base for militants. It did not say when. The arrests were carried out in the past two weeks, according to an anonymous American official.
The Pakistani military statement said al-Mauritani was mainly responsible for al-Qaida's international operations and was tasked by bin Laden with hitting targets of economic importance in America, Europe and Australia.
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