Pakistan nets Al Qaeda man 'wanted for London attacks'

Photo: AFP

ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistani forces on Wednesday arrested a Saudi, senior Al-Qaeda operative allegedly wanted in connection with the 2005 attacks on London in a lightning raid in the country's lawless tribal belt. Security stormed a militant den in the northwestern city of Peshawar, capturing the operative and six other suspected militants, a senior Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official said the Al-Qaeda operative was wanted for the July 7, 2005 suicide bombings in London, and named him as Zabi ul Taifi. "He's been arrested in the northwestern city of Peshawar this morning. The suspect has been shifted to Islamabad for interrogation," the 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. Another security official described the Saudi national as a plotter of the July 7 bombings that killed 52 commuters in the English capital. US and NATO officials say that Pakistan's rugged, northwest tribal belt have become safe havens for militants linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda who fled neighbouring Afghanistan after the 2001 US-led invasion. Local officials in Pakistan confirmed the arrests and said American investigators were present at the time of the operation. An unmanned surveillance drone was spotted in the sky at the time of the raid, the local officials said.

The raid came four days after British Foreign Secretary David Miliband left Pakistan for talks largely aimed at defusing tensions with the Muslim country fellow nuclear armed neighbour, India after the  David Miliband. "We are investigating the reports," said a spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London when asked about Wednesday's arrests. Four suicide bombers, three of ethnic Pakistani origin, blew themselves up on the public transport system in London, 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.

Wednesday's raid was carried out at the house of a Pakistani man called Bakshi Khan where the outskirts of Peshawar run into the lawless suburb of Bara on the edge of the sprawling city, officials said. Some of the other six suspected militants arrested were Afghans, said the senior security official. Deep into the neighbouring district of Mohmand, closer to the Afghan border than Peshawar, 24 militants were killed when Pakistani forces shelled extremist hideouts from helicopter gunships, security officials told AFP. Troops have waged a crackdown in the known Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold, where security officials said 60 militants were killed on Monday and Tuesday.

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, an ally of the US. NATO Secretary General Jaap de Hoop Scheffer was due to arrive in Islamabad late on Wednesday for talks with Pakistan's civilian and military leadership, said a foreign ministry official. Scheffer has called for another 10,000 troops to help provide security for elections across the border in Afghanistan this year, on top of the 51,000-strong NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) on the ground. Last month, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown pledged six million pounds (nine million dollars) to help Pakistan tackle militancy. Britain says it has a vested interest in trying to help Islamabad, as the majority of terror plots investigated by British authorities in London have links back to Pakistan.