| Submit your comments on this article |
| Terror Networks |
| Another al-Qaeda Big in jug? We knew that. |
| 2002-09-04 |
| This one's from The Guardian, by way of Jihad Unspun. Neither reads Rantburg. You can tell... One of Washington's most wanted al-Qaida fugitives was captured in Karachi in July and secretly transferred to US custody, striking a significant blow to Osama bin Laden's network, Pakistani intelligence sources have claimed. Sheikh Ahmed Salim, detained in a joint Pakistan-US raid, was among a group of suspects flown out of the country in recent weeks. Hurrah! Hurrah! Cha-cha-cha! Want some candy, little kid? Actually, Rantburg readers already knew that. The 33-year-old Kenyan, who also goes by the name Swedan, had a $25m (£16m) price on his head for his role in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in east Africa. Since then he is believed to have emerged as an important al-Qaida figure, directing and funding Islamist militants in Pakistan. Pay off that reward to somebody who was standing close by when they jugged him. Publicize it well, in all the papers and on the teevee. Show him wallowing in cash. Wait three weeks and we'll have another one... Officially, the Pakistani and US governments denied knowledge of the arrest, but in interviews with the Guardian, senior Pakistani intelligence sources and a top investigator in Karachi insisted they had positively identified Salim among suspects arrested in a raid in Karachi in July. Pakistani intelligence agents were led to Salim's cell by satellite telephone intercepts provided by the FBI. That led to the arrest in Karachi of a more junior al-Qaida figure, a Saudi known only as Riyadh or Riaz. In early July he in turn led investigators to Salim, who was arrested in Kharadar, a slum area in the south of the city. Just can't trust those Soddies, can you? Oooo! An even better idea! Pay the $25 million to Riaz or Riyadh, or whatever the hell his name is. Have Bush shake his hand on al-Jazeerah... Heh heh. |
| Posted by:Fred Pruitt |