Three al Qaeda suspects held

13 Aug, 2004

Two top al Qaeda suspects, a Pakistani linked to attempts on President Musharraf's life and an Uzbek national, have been captured, an intelligence official told AFP on Thursday.
A Turkish man, Yilmaz Mehmat alias Khalid believed to be a top al Qaeda terror planner was also arrested in Lahore on Sunday.
They are the latest in a gallery of suspected top operatives of Osama bin Laden's terror network caught in Pakistan since mid-July.
The Pakistani, identified only as Mohsin, was nabbed in Karachi on Monday, said the official, who has been closely involved in the high-profile crackdown and spoke to AFP on condition of anonymity.
"He is one of the important characters in the Musharraf (attempted assassination) case," he said, referring to two bids on Musharraf's life last December.
The Uzbek man, known as Mansoor, was arrested in Peshawar, also on Monday. Believed to be a key al Qaeda operative, Mansoor had been active in organising and providing the Uzbek people for fighting against the army in Wana and also for acts of terrorism," the official added.
Both men were close to al Qaeda's "top leadership", the official said, without naming bin Laden or his Egyptian deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri.

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