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Afghanistan-Pak-India
Al-Qaeda Arrest Not Linked To Madrid Bombing, Says Minister
2005-11-03
Islamabad, 3 Nov. (AKI) - The Pakistani police have captured a leading al-Qaeda suspect and killed another, but the authorities have denied media reports that the suspect is a Syrian, Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, who is wanted in connection with the 2004 Madird train bombings. Pakistan's information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has said that the men were Arab but that he was not the al-Qaeda operative that the media had been speculating about. At a press conference in Islamabad, the minister also said that for security reasons, the identities of the men would not be revealed.
"I can say no more"
Earlier reports had quoted unnamed government officials saying that they were checking to see if the man that was captured was Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, also known as Abu Musab al-Suri. A Syrian national with dual Spanish citizenship, Nasar is alleged to have played a role in the attacks which killed 191 people in March 2004. The US authorities have offered a five million dollar reward for his capture.
Of course, he may really be Nasar, Pakistan has denied capturing people they've captured before

The US Justice Department website said that Nasar is a former trainer at two terror camps in Afghanistan who pledged allegiance to Osama bin Laden after the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States. It said Nasar worked with another key militant to train extremists in the use of poisons and chemicals. The Pakistani authorities have arrested several people beleived to be al-Qeda leaders including Abu Faraj al-Libbi, who was captured in May. Al-Libbi, who was described as being the "al-Qaeda's number three", was handed over the the authorities in the United States.

Additional: Intelligence officials said a third suspect from a Pakistani militant group was also captured in the raid this week in Quetta, the capital of Pakistan's southwestern Baluchistan province. "I can only confirm that there was an encounter, and our security forces arrested one suspected al-Qaida terrorist while another terrorist was killed," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated Press. He did not identify the suspects.
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One of the intelligence officials, based in Quetta, said the suspect who died in the firing was a Saudi named Shaikh Ali Mohammed al-Salim. He said al-Salim had been living with Nasar.
They were lovers...
He said the third suspect was from Jaish-e-Mohammed, a Pakistani Islamic militant group allegedly linked to al-Qaida.
Posted by:Steve

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