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London attacks 'plotter' questioned in Pakistan
2009-01-22
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Intelligence agents on Thursday interrogated a senior Saudi Al-Qaeda suspect who was captured in a joint Pakistani-CIA raid and allegedly plotted the 2005 attacks that killed 52 people in London. The operative, named by Pakistani security officials as Zabi ul Taifi, was arrested with six other Afghan and Pakistani suspects when security forces stormed a militant den Wednesday on the outskirts of Peshawar. US and NATO officials say Pakistan's rugged northwest is awash with militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda who fled neighbouring Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion. Interior ministry chief Rehman Malik told reporters two "high-value targets" were among the seized in the raid, but gave no names. "The operation was conducted jointly by Pakistani intelligence and officials from the Central Intelligence Agency," a security official told AFP. Local officials said American investigators had been present at the time of the operation while an unmanned surveillance plane flew overhead. "The suspect has been shifted to Islamabad for interrogation," one senior Pakistani security official said. "It was a well-planned raid carried out against a militant den. The culprits were caught off guard and captured without resistance," the official said. Foreign Secretary David Miliband held talks in Pakistan at the weekend largely aimed at defusing tensions with India, after attacks in Mumbai that New Delhi also blamed on Islamist extremists. The Foreign Office said it was investigating the reports of the Al-Qaeda operative's arrest. The London attacks saw four suicide bombers, three of ethnic Pakistani origin, blow themselves up on the public transport system on July 7, 2005, killing themselves and 52 others while wounding more than 700 commuters. At least two of the four bombers were known to have visited Pakistan in the months before the attacks. Pakistan rejects Western accusations that it is not doing enough to tackle the extremist threat within its own borders, where a wave of attacks carried out by fundamentalists have killed more than 1,500 people in 17 months. Dozens of suspected US missile strikes have hit militant targets in Pakistan, sparking anger and concern from Islamabad, a close ally in the US-led "war on terror" despite significant domestic opposition. According to a senior official, Taifi was given shelter by a local Taliban commander loyal to Baitullah Mehsud -- named by the Pakistani government as the mastermind of the Benazir Bhutto assassination in 2007. The Pakistani military said forces acted on a tip-off and that foreigners were among the seven arrested in Bara near Peshawar. "Investigations are underway to ascertain the nationality of those arrested," it said in a statement. In Islamabad, NATO chief Jaap de Hoop Scheffer held security talks with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari focused on "border security, NATO supplies, (and the) general regional situation," a presidential aide told AFP. NATO leads the International Security Assistance Force, made up of more than 51,000 troops from nearly 40 countries, which is assisting Afghan government forces fighting the escalating Taliban-led insurgency. Extremist attacks have plagued the main transport corridor from Pakistan used to re-supply NATO and other foreign forces in Afghanistan, where Scheffer has criticised the current authorities for contributing to the crisis.
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