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| India-Pakistan |
| Karachi police quiz shoot-out suspects |
| 2003-01-10 |
| Two men arrested after a gun battle in the Pakistani city of Karachi on Thursday have told interrogators their names and given their nationalities as Egyptian and Yemeni, police sources say. The two al-Qaeda suspects - Egyptian Abu Amar and Yemeni Abu Hamza - were detained after a raid by Pakistani police and FBI agents. Interrogators are trying to check whether the names are genuine. They've never seen a real Arab ID either. The men are still in Pakistani custody and have not been handed over to the United States. Checking to see if they are cannon fodder, in which case they'll hand them over, or big shots. If they have really good connections, it will just be a case of mistaken identity. Pakistan has arrested more than 400 al-Qaeda suspects since the start of the American-led campaign against the movement. Most of them have been handed over to the US. Thursday's raid was carried out in the Gulshan-e-Maimar district on the outskirts of Karachi. The men threw at least three hand grenades and fired automatic weapons at the security forces during the raid, but none was injured. More Arab marksmen The pair surrendered after the anti-terrorist police and paramilitary rangers returned several dozen rounds of automatic fire. More than that, I'll bet. At least one man in the house escaped, reportedly with gunshot wounds, and was still being hunted on Friday. Also arrested was a former international field hockey player, Shahid Ali Khan, and six family members who lived in the bottom half of the two-storey house. They were all released late on Thursday. The wife is a big shot fundi member. BBC correspondent in Islamabad, Zaffar Abbas, says Karachi is one of the few places where al-Qaeda and Taleban members are believed to have hidden since the start of the US-led military campaign in Afghanistan more than a year ago. One of the few places? Try all of Pakistan! |
| Posted by:Steve |