Hayyat's announcement followed news that at least six Al Qaeda suspects, including a Syrian, have been arrested in separate raids in recent days. Three of the suspects -- two Pakistanis and a foreigner -- were arrested on a road near the eastern city of Lahore, and five grenades and two AK-47 rifles were found in their sports utility vehicle, a high-ranking intelligence official told The Associated Press. Another detainee is a policeman, Raja Waqar, assigned to the office of Punjab province's top politician; he is suspected of passing Al Qaeda linked groups information on the whereabouts of top government officials, Lahore police chief Tariq Salim Dogar told The Associated Press.
"The previous record of the policeman shows that he has been involved in jihadi activities and had links with Al Qaeda. We have initiated a probe to find out how he managed to get posted to such a sensitive place," Dogar said.
| Maybe because it was part of the job description? |
A fifth suspect, arrested Sunday at a bus station in a town near Lahore, identified himself as Juma Ibrahim, a Syrian, said district police chief Aslam Ghauri. He said Ibrahim was turned over to Pakistan's spy agency. Another man was arrested trying to board a plane in Lahore with questionable documents, said a government official who gave no further details. It was not immediately clear if any of the six militants described by Pakistani officials included the two senior Al Qaeda men that Hayyat said were wanted by the United States.
| It doesn't seem to be, at least under those names. |
Several of the detainees were believed to be linked to other Al Qaeda suspects in custody, including a computer expert identified as Mohammad Naeem Noor Khan who was arrested July 13. An intelligence official in the capital, Islamabad, said Arochi led police to a network of Al Qaeda operatives and that several as-yet-undisclosed arrests have been made. He would not confirm any direct link between Arochi and the arrest of Khan, the computer expert, but said Arochi has been made available to U.S. intelligence agents. A senior intelligence official told The Associated Press that Ghailani spent time in the tribal area of South Waziristan before traveling in recent weeks to Gujrat. Al Qaeda "facilitators" arranged for him to hide in several local houses, said the official, who asked that his name not be used. Officials also believe Ghailani was hiding for a while in the southern port city of Karachi, home to a number of local extremist groups as well as Al Qaeda, and in Lahore. Raja Munawar Hussain, the police chief in Gujrat, told AP that a front man who leased a car and opened a bank account for Ghailani also was arrested. |