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| India-Pakistan |
| 7 Arabs, 8 Afghans held for links with Al-Qaeda |
| 2002-06-21 |
| Law enforcement officials arrested seven Arab nationals and eight Afghans following raids. The Arabs and Afghans suspected to be members of the Al-Qaeda network were being questioned by the American FBI agency and local investigators. âWe have arrested important members of a terrorist gang belonging to a banned sectarian group but cannot provide details at this stage as the investigations and search for their associates are continuing,â an official said. âWe have recovered dozens of light machine guns, Kalashnikov assault rifles, grenades and explosives from their position.â The Paks do seem to get a little better when self-preservation's involved. Not much, but a little. âIt was a big success. We are also investigating their possible involvement in recent terrorist attacks in Karachi or possible links with Al-Qaeda,â he said. A senior intelligence official confirmed that the number of FBI personnel has increased and around 100 of them arrived yesterday. He said that the FBI has ordered bullet proof cars and other equipment for probing terrorist activities in the city and even in other parts of the country, including Lahore and Islamabad. Tanks would probably be more to the point, but Caponemobiles are less conspicuous... The American ambassador-designate to Islamabad had said during her visit to Karachi on Tuesday that her country would extend all possible help to Pakistani authorities to apprehend Al-Qaeda members who seem to have spread all over the city. âThey (Al-Qaeda) members have been active in Karachi and we have to carry out a combing operationâ said a senior police official. Can we assassinate people? That's the only way to really control the nonsense. Two Arab nationals and their five accomplices were arrested Wednesday night from Kharadar, an old city area and the remaining two were taken prisoner from North Nazimabad. Their names and nationalities were being kept secret. The chief of Sindh police Kamal Shah claimed that the FBI was providing âtechnical assistanceâ while the main work was being done by the police and the local security agencies. Shah feared that more incidents of bomb blasts can occur in Karachi since the network has been fairly powerful. The FBI will be passing on any intel that Congressional committees haven't compromised, and helping with the roundup, just to make sure Mahmud the Weasel isn't on the flying squad. The Paks have to do all the hitting and hollering, or we'll end up with more Berkeley City Council resolutions. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |