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| India-Pakistan |
| Al-Suri got cash from Gulf donors |
| 2006-04-22 |
| Documents found on an operative for Al Qaeda who was killed by Pakistani forces showed that he was an explosives expert and a money carrier who appeared to be distributing cash to the families of Qaeda members, including Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the organization's leader in Iraq, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said Friday. The operative, Marwan Hadid al-Suri, 38, also known as Abu Marwan, was shot to death on Thursday during a gunfight outside Khaar, a tribal area close to the Afghan border, said Interior Minister Aftab Ahmad Khan Sherpao. A notebook found on Mr. Suri contained details and diagrams of bomb circuits and chemicals used to manufacture explosives, including TNT and C-4, said the intelligence official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the news media. "This is a big achievement because he was Al Qaeda's explosives expert," Mr. Sherpao said. A diary written in Arabic contained a list of families of senior Qaeda operatives who received regular cash payments from the organization, including relatives of Mr. Zarqawi, the Jordanian-born leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq. The list did not give the whereabouts of the families, but it described paying $2,500 per family every three months. According to the list, each family was also paid $500 per child every three months. "This is quite a substantial amount," the intelligence official said. "I reckon the period was stretched out to avoid frequent contacts for security reasons and keep track of families who constantly change their locations to avoid detection." Security officials in Peshawar say they believe that Al Qaeda continues to receive financing from abroad and from private Arab donors in the Middle East and the Persian Gulf. Many Al Qaeda members who had come from around the Arab world to fight in Afghanistan in the 1980's and 1990's, married Afghan or Pakistani women and had children with them. The families, hunted by security agencies, move from house to house to avoid detection. The Syrian-born Mr. Suri, the intelligence official said, married a woman in Afghanistan, but moved his family to the Bajaur region, in Pakistan's tribal areas, from where he organized operations against United States forces in Afghanistan. Villages in Bajaur were hit by American missiles in January in an attempt to kill Al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Four members of Al Qaeda are believed to have been killed in the strike. Mr. Suri had trained in explosives in Khost, Afghanistan, and was recently believed to be training other militants in Bajaur, the intelligence official said. Four hand grenades and a pistol were found with his body. Mr. Suri was killed after his bus was stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint. He shot one of the soldiers and was fired upon as he tried to flee. |
| Posted by:Dan Darling |
| #2 Does it count as crossfire if they are aiming for him? Given my understanding of their target-hitting ability, 2b, I suspect crossfire was the only way actual bullet impact could be achieved. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-04-22 19:12 |
| #1 Mr. Suri was killed after his bus was stopped by soldiers at a checkpoint. He shot one of the soldiers and was fired upon as he tried to flee. Does it count as crossfire if they are aiming for him? |
| Posted by: 2b 2006-04-22 13:56 |