Pakistani police Thursday arrested an Algerian Al-Qaeda suspect after a shootout with two men on the outskirts of this northwestern provincial capital, intelligence officials said. Two men riding in a car fired at police when they were signalled to stop in Hayatabad, an upscale posh residential neighbourhood on the city outskirts. "Halt!"
"Take that, copper! BANG!" |
"In the ensuing exchange of fire one of the two men was injured and captured while the other managed to run away.
| "Curley toed slippers, don't fail me now!" |
The arrested man is an Arab and apparently linked to Al-Qaeda," an intelligence official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. A senior security official later identified the captured man as an Algerian named Abu Fouzi.
| "Long way from home, ain't ya Abu? That wound sure looks painful, let me put something on it. Say hello to Mister Truncheon." |
Police recovered a few hand grenades, some documents and an assault rifle from the car, the official added.
| Like pretty much every car in Peshawar. |
Additional: The Algerian, identified as Mohammad Fauzi, was wounded in the neck when police opened fire at him after he threw a hand grenade at them while trying to escape along with another foreign militant in a vehicle, an intelligence official said. The suspected militants took shelter in a religious school where Fauzi was arrested, he said on condition of anonymity. The second suspect, believed to be an Iraqi, fled but was caught later, he added. His identity was not immediately known. The intelligence official said Fauzi's condition was stable.
Pakistani security agencies have been making arrests almost daily since they stepped up their crackdown on Al-Qaeda fugitives, blamed for a wave of terrorist attacks on Pakistani leaders since December. |