4 -10 April 2002
Issue No.580
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 4 -10 April 2002 Issue No.580 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Friends in deed
In an unprecedented development, Pakistani and US agents arrest suspected Al-Qa'eda members, reports Absar Alam from Islamabad
In the first ever joint operation in Pakistan against the Al-Qa'eda network, Pakistani police, intelligence and US FBI agents captured at least 57 individuals alleged to be Al-Qa'eda members this week in a sting operation in two cities of Punjab province.
US President George W Bush, above, and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon have incurred the world's wrath. While Sharon's ruthless clampdown against the Palestinians has been universally condemned, Bush has been criticised for condoning Israeli aggression and genocide
(photos: AFP)
The militants hideouts were raided on the basis of leads found during the investigation of the 17 March bombing of a Protestant church in Islamabad in which five people, including two Americans, were killed in a suicide grenade attack.
The midnight raid left two Al-Qa'eda militants dead and three injured. Three Pakistani officials were also injured in the shoot-out between the militants and the raiding party which broke into several houses in the Punjabi city Faisalabad at midnight. The injured were taken to the Allied Hospital where they were being treated under strict security.
Several raids were also made in the provincial capital Lahore where the joint team arrested several militants. All the captured persons were later transferred to Lahore. Two days later the FBI and Pakistani police arrested four Sudanese in Peshawar on the basis of information obtained from militants arrested in Faisalabad.
Sources close to the investigation revealed that Abu Zobaida, an alleged deputy of Osama Bin Laden, was among the arrested militants. "We cannot confirm that yet," Tasneem Noorani, the interior secretary told Al-Ahram Weekly. "The investigations are still going on." It was learnt that the arrested militants were handed over to US officials for further investigation.
The captured militants include about 20 Arabs from several countries such as Syria, Yemen, Jordan and Egypt. Five Afghans, and several Pakistani members of banned militant groups Jaish-i- Mohamed and Harkatul Mujahideen and Lashkar-i-Tayyaba were also among the arrested.
Analysts are saying that the first joint operation against Al-Qa'eda in Pakistan portends increased cooperation between the United States and Pakistan in the fight against terrorism. The Pakistani government previously had been reluctant to allow the direct participation of US agents in operations against militants for fear of a public backlash.
Senior Pakistani officials in Islamabad, Lahore and Faisalabad were reluctant to comment on the details of the operation which was shrouded in secrecy to the extent that apparently not even some Pakistani intelligence agencies, Islamabad police, or Faisalabad police knew about it in advance.
The FBI, according to sources, gave information to Pakistani officials about the suspects hideouts in Faisalabad and Lahore. The US embassy did not comment on the involvement of FBI officials in the operation, but General Tommy Franks admitted in Washington that US "assets" were used in the operation. Permission for the joint operation was granted only at the highest levels in Islamabad and Lahore; Pakistan's Interior Ministry was not even formally informed, which is the legal procedure for such operations.
In Faisalabad, the arrested Al-Qa'eda members had hired half a dozen houses in two localities. The occupation of these houses by young foreign-looking men, who spoke various languages, and the frequent visits by several suspicious persons to these houses helped the intelligence agencies to zero in on them.
During the night of 27 March, a convoy of 15 jeeps and small trucks arrived at the scene carrying several dozen policemen and US agents, witnesses said. After the gunfight, a vehicle of US commandos escorted at least two injured Syrians to the nearby Allah Rakhi Trust hospital on the canal bank. The injured were later taken to Allied Hospital.
The government of General Pervez Musharraf is expected to face harsh criticism for allowing US agents to participate directly in operations on Pakistani soil. Such opposition is particularly unwelcome at a time when Musharraf is preparing for a national referendum on his tenure as president.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page