Pakistani intelligence officers working with the CIA arrested three members of Al Qaeda including a top operative believed to have been tasked by Usama bin Laden with targeting American economic interests around the world. Hit the jump to read the rest of the story.
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Younis al-Mauritani’s arrest — made public five days before the 10-year anniversary of the 9/11 attacks — was seen as a blow to Al Qaeda’s central leadership in Pakistan, further degrading its ability to mount terrorist attacks abroad. The terrorist organization has seen its senior ranks thinned since Usama bin Laden was killed May 2 along with Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the group’s No.2, in a CIA missile strike last month.
A U.S. official described al-Mauritani to Fox News as a “seasoned, senior operative trusted by the group’s top leaders.”
“He played an absolutely central role in planning and coordinating Al Qaeda’s operations in Europe, plots that targeted both European and American interests,” the official said.
The public announcement of close cooperation with the CIA appeared aimed at reversing the widespread perception that ties between U.S. intelligence and Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence agency had been badly damaged by the U.S. killing of bin Laden inside Pakistan.
The Pakistani military said the arrests took place near the Afghan border in the southwestern city of Quetta, long known as a base for militants. It did not say when.
The capture of an Al Qaeda militant inside Pakistan has become rare in recent years: most targets of CIA operations in the country have been killed by drone aircraft in a relentless series of operations launched in 2008.
“This operation was planned and conducted with technical assistance of United State Intelligence Agencies with whom Inter-Services Intelligence has a strong, historic intelligence relationship. Both Pakistan and United States Intelligence agencies continue to work closely together to enhance security of their respective nations,” the military said in a written statement.
The statement said al-Mauritani was mainly responsible for Al Qaeda’s international operations and was tasked by bin Laden with hitting targets of economic importance in America, Europe and Australia. It said he was planning to target U.S. economic interests including gas and oil pipelines, power generating dams and oil tankers by using explosive-laden speed boats in international waters.
It named the other two detainees as Abdul-Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami.
