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Osama bin Laden is still alive: Pakistan
Osama bin Laden, the world's most wanted fugitive, is alive and on the run with a small group of fighters, Pakistan's foreign minister says. "Osama bin Laden is alive and moving around from place to place, but not with a large group of people," a news report quoted Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri as saying. Kasuri wouldn't say whether Pakistan possessed specific information on the whereabouts of Osama.Kasuri said Pakistan's army had "paralysed al-Qaeda's communication network," and vastly reduced its capability to strike, according to the English-language newspaper The News. Pakistan's intelligence service captured Abu Farraj al-Libbi, reputed to be al-Qaeda's No 3 leader, on May 2. Al-Libbi - who remains in Pakistan's custody - was wanted for allegedly masterminding two December 2003 assassination attempts against President General Pervez Musharraf, who escaped unharmed. Seventeen other people were killed, however. Pakistan, a key ally of the United States in its war on terror, has handed over more than 700 al-Qaeda suspects to US officials, including al-Qaeda's then-No 3 Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was arrested in March 2003 during a raid near Islamabad. Two other alleged al-Qaeda leaders, Ramzi Binalshibh and Abu Zubaydah, were also arrested in Pakistan. Posted by: Spavirt Pheng6042 2005-05-20 |
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