FBI and CIA experts dug through computers and piles of other information Monday from the Pakistani home of alleged Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, searching for clues that new terror strikes might be imminent.
In addition to his capture on Saturday, government officials said authorities had caught Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman, a son of the blind Egyptian sheik accused of inspiring the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center.
The younger Abdel-Rahman was caught several weeks ago in Quetta, Pakistan, the officials said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. Pakistani officials have suggested the Quetta arrest helped lead authorities to Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, although American sources disputed that.
As for the separate capture of the younger Abdel-Rahman, government officials said he ran a training camp in Afghanistan before the Sept. 11 attacks. He was considered a senior al-Qaida operative, perhaps one tier below Mohammed. He is known as Asadullah, "the Lion of God." His father, Omar Abdel-Rahman, is in a U.S. prison for a 1994 plot to bomb landmarks around New York City. Another son of the blind sheik, Ahmad, was captured in Afghanistan in late 2001. |