Top Al Quaeda Suspect Nabbed In Pakistan

Posted on August 17, 2006 by Gaius

Pakistani authorities have announced the arrest of a top al Qaeda commander believed to have been in close contact with Ayman al Zawahiri, the number two man in the organization. This man is suspected of being one of the masterminds behind the plan broken up in London.

A senior al Qaeda commander allegedly tied to the London airplane bomb plot has been arrested in Pakistan, Pakistani intelligence and law enforcement officials have told ABC News. Matiur Rehman, one of the most wanted men in Pakistan, is known to have met with the alleged plot ringleader Rashid Rauf, according to the officials.

Rehman’s capture could provide the most important leads in months to the whereabouts of Al Qaeda’s top two leaders, Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri. Rehman was believed to be in frequent contact with Zawahiri. 

Rehman was taken into custody in the southern Punjab city of Bawalpur, the same town where alleged London plot ringleader Rashid Rauf was arrested last week. ABC News saw a copy of the police report on Rehman, with an attached copy of his photo.   

Pakistani officials told ABC News earlier that 29-year Rehman was known to be planning a terror spectacular to mark the fifth anniversary of the 9/ll attacks, and the London plot may have been it.

ABC News consultant Alexis Debat, a terrorism expert at the Nixon Center in Washington D.C., says, "[Rehman] is the interface between al Qaeda's leadership and thousands, if not tens of thousands, of Pakistani militants who are able to provide the muscle for al Qaeda's operations not only in Pakistan but around the world."

This sounds like a very big deal.

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3 Responses to Top Al Quaeda Suspect Nabbed In Pakistan

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  2. crosspatch says:
    August 17, 2006 at 1:58 pm

    Just saw this over at Charles’:

    The Transportation Security Administration reports that a passenger’s water bottle screened positive for an explosive material around 9:15 this morning. A second test was confirmed at 11:25.

    NBC News reports that federal screeners found four containers of liquids inside a woman’s carry-on bag during the screening process this morning. Larry Salyers, Tri-State Airport Director, tells WSAZ the woman is of Pakistani origin, lived in Jackson, Michigan and most recently lived in the Huntington area. She is being detained for questioning.

    They need to start arresting the top al Qaeda leaders in the US!

  3. Black Jack says:
    August 17, 2006 at 2:47 pm

    “They need to start arresting the top al Qaeda leaders in the US!”

    Good idea. But, would that be the ones in the mosques or the ones at the NY Times, or the ones in the Democrat Party, or the ones at the ACLU, or the ones at the broadcast networks, or the ones in our colleges and universities? Where, one wonders, is the greatest concentration of top al Qaeda leaders in the US to be found.