| My prediction: The number will drop from 21 (it was 22) to 16 or 17 before the names are released. |
ISLAMABAD: Pakistani counter-terrorism experts are questioning 21 suspects captured at an Al-Qaeda hideout for clues about remnants of the terror network and the Taliban, an intelligence official said on Wednesday. The suspects, who intelligence official said include Afghans, were captured this week during the biggest-ever military operation in North Waziristan. Lt Gen Safdar Hussain, the top army commander responsible for anti-terrorism operations in northwestern Pakistan, said Tuesday that troops had destroyed a major Al-Qaeda hideout and caught âsome important menâ. He would not identify them. The hideout appeared sophisticated, Hussain said, with communications equipment to contact militants in Afghanistan, a cache of bombs, detonators and rockets, and a tiny Chinese-made drone aircraft used for surveillance. On Wednesday, an intelligence official said on condition of anonymity that âfour or five important peopleâ were among the detainees. He gave no other details.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao would only say that security agencies had nabbed five suspects in recent operations against terrorists. This weekâs operation coincided with a visit by President Gen Pervez Musharraf to the United States, where he said Pakistan was winning the war on terror. âWe are on the winning side because Al-Qaeda has been neutralized,â Musharraf told CNN. âThey cease to exist as a homogeneous body. We have broken their vertical and horizontal communication linkages. They are on the run.â Musharrafâs government has faced criticism from US, Afghan and UN officials over cross-border militant attacks at targets inside Afghanistan, where violence has escalated ahead of Sundayâs elections for a new legislature.