 Senior Pakistani intelligence sources tell ABC News that they have been able to trace the terrorist attack against an employee of the U.S. consulate in Karachi back to senior al Qaeda operatives. According to the same sources, the operation was ordered and prepared by al Qaeda officials in North Waziristan and carried out by local militant networks. There are "strong suspicions" that the key operative in this operation is a 29-year-old militant named Matiur Rehman, already identified by ABC News as a "key interface" between Al Qaeda's senior leadership and the Pakistani terrorist underworld, which Pakistani sources confirm is increasingly providing the "muscle" behind al Qaeda operations.
The powerful car bomb attack occurred in March of this year just one day before President Bush arrived in the country for a diplomatic visit. At least 4 people were killed and more than a dozen were injured. The dead American, 52 year-old David Foy from North Carolina, had worked at the consulate since September. |