E-MAIL THIS LINK
To: 

Pakistan arrests FBI "Top 10 List" Al-Qaeda Operative
AP Breaking News 8:07AM PST - developing (via MSNBC)
According to the newsflash Pakistan has arrested a top Al-Qaeda operative, as yet unnamed, but who is on the Top 10 wanted list from the FBI

Here's the AP release, as of 11:02...
An al-Qaida operative on the FBI most-wanted list, was among three people arrested in Rawalpindi, a senior government official said. He refused to identify the operative by name and spoke only on condition of anonymity.
Doesn't sound like he knows anything, except that it's a big. The Paks were just saying they were on to something. Maybe this is it...

FoxNews picks it up, too, passing along the AP release, and adding that two other people were arrested with him...

And a bit more from Roto-Reuters...
Pakistan detained a Pakistani and two foreigners near Islamabad on Saturday in a search for al Qaeda members, and a government source said one of the three could be an important figure in Osama bin Laden's network. "Right now all I can say is that one could be an important man, but... a lot of investigation is still needed," said the source, who asked not to be named. Officials said the two foreigners were of Arab origin but gave no further details. No shootout was involved because the suspects were taken by surprise at a house near the capital. "We have detained three terror suspects this morning. One is a Pakistani and two are foreign nationals," said Interior Minister Faisal Saleh Hayat.

YES! YES!
FoxNews sez it's Khalid Sheikh Mohammad!
I'll be outside ululating for the rest of the afternoon! Look out for falling AK rounds! Want some candy, little kid? Hubba hubba hubba!


Full story from AP...
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks in the United States, was arrested Saturday in Pakistan. Mohammed, who is on the FBI's most wanted list, was among three people arrested in Rawalpindi, near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad. U.S. officials regard Mohammed as a key al-Qaida lieutenant and organizer of the terror mission that sent hijacked passenger jets crashing into the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and a Pennsylvania field, killing more than 3,000 people. Mohammed, 37, has not been charged in the Sept. 11 attacks, but he has been charged in a 1995 terror plot. He is one of the FBI's most-wanted terror suspects, and the U.S. government is offering up to $25 million for information leading to his capture.
Somebody's gonna be buying a lot of beer in Rawalpindi!
Kuwaiti-born Mohammed is the uncle of convicted 1993 World Trade Center conspirator Ramzi Yousef, a senior Kuwaiti official told reporters Monday. An older brother is a member of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network and another brother died in Pakistan when a bomb he was making exploded.
Heh heh. I love it when that happens...
A second man arrested in Saturday's raid in Rawalpindi was also of Middle Eastern origin but has not been identified. The Pakistani who was also arrested has been identified as Abdul Qadoos. Interior Ministry spokesman Iftikar Ahmad said that Qadoos was linked to a terrorist organization, but he refused to identify it. He said that Qadoos had received training in Afghanistan.
Hasn't everybody in Pakistan?
However, Pakistan's oldest and most organized religious group, Jamaat-e-Islami, said Qadoos was one of its members and that he had no links to al-Qaida or any other terrorist organization. Local Jamaat-e-Islami leaders Mian Mohammed Aslam and Hanif Abbasi said at a news conference Saturday in Rawalpindi that Qadoos was wrongly arrested. They said the FBI conducted the raid and carried out the arrest.
Yeah. He just happened to pop in for a beer, and suddenly the place was wall-to-wall with coppers. He was just an innocent bystander. By coincidence (of course), Dr Ahmed Javed Khawaja, who was arrested in December for sheltering Qaeda thugs, was also a JI member who was unfairly targeted...
"The Pakistani agencies have been at work tracking these people," Ahmad said. He said Qadoos was "picked up because of his association with al Qaida."

A bit of detail from ABC...
Senior government officials said the three men were arrested about 3 a.m. local time Saturday at a house where Qadoos lives with his father. Omar Qadoos, Ahmed's cousin, said only Ahmed, his wife and two children were in the house.
Was Khalid his wife? Or one of his kids?
There also was a guard outside, he said. "The police pounded on the gate and then they rushed through. There was some firing, but no one was hurt and then they beat the guard and broke the lock on the front door," Omar Qadoos said.
"Hey! You can't do that!"
"Shuddup!" [THUMP!]
He said police held the family at gunpoint while they collected cassettes, a computer and computer discs, leaving the floor littered with clothes, papers and other items.

And from CBS...
The tip-off came about a week earlier following a raid in the southwestern town of Quetta and the arrest of a Middle Eastern man, possibly of Egyptian origin, according to a Pakistani government source. "At the time of that raid in Quetta the authorities were looking for Khalid Shaikh but he escaped and from there they followed him to Rawalpindi," said the official. "They got information from the man they picked up in Quetta and from phone calls until they tracked him down to Rawalpindi."
Sounds like they were on that boy tight...

Posted by: Frank G 2003-03-01
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=10786