Pakistan nabs al-Qaeda leader planning to hit US targets

Sep 5, 2011, 13:22 GMT

Islamabad - Pakistan's military said Monday that it had arrested a senior al-Qaeda leader who was assigned to hit economic targets of the United States across the world.

Younis al-Mauritani, mainly responsible for planning and conducting international operations, was nabbed from the suburbs of Quetta, the capital of south-western province of Balochistan, a Pakistan Army statement said.

His two comrades and senior al-Qaeda operatives, Abdul Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami, were also apprehended in the action.

'Al-Mauritani was tasked personally by Osama bin Laden to focus on hitting targets of economical importance in the United States of America, Europe and Australia,' the statement read further.

The US welcomed the arrests, and White House spokesman Josh Earnest called the move 'an example of the longstanding partnership between the US and Pakistan in fighting terrorism, which has taken many terrorists off the battlefield over the past decade.'

'We applaud the actions of Pakistan's intelligence and security services that led to the capture of a senior al-Qaeda operative who was involved in planning attacks against the interests of the United States and many other countries,' he said.

Relations between the US and Pakistan have been strained since the US military raid that killed bin Laden in a compound in Pakistan earlier this year. Tensions flared amid questions in Washington about what Pakistani officials knew about bin Laden's whereabouts, and concerns in Islamabad that its leaders and military had been kept in the dark about the operation on its territory.

The arrest took place a week after US officials claimed that an American drone attack had killed al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman - a Libyan who was the top planner for al-Qaeda operations.

Al-Qaeda is believed to have faced a series of losses since bin Laden was killed in a US commando operation on May 2 in Pakistan's north-western city of Abbottabad, which soured the relations between Islamabad and Washington.

Pakistan reduced its military cooperation after the Abbottabad incident and expelled over 100 US military trainers, who at the time were providing counter-terrorism training to Pakistan troops.

But the latest cooperation indicates an improvement in the ties, as the army said the operation to capture of al-Mauritani was planned and conducted with technical assistance from US intelligence agencies.

'Both Pakistan and United States intelligence agencies continue to work closely together to enhance security of their respective nations,' the army said.

Experts believe that it shows that they are ready to put the past behind and forge new cooperation in the struggle against terrorism.

Read more about US