Qari Saifullah, a close aide to the recently killed Taliban leader, Baitullah Mehsud, has appeared before a special anti-terrorism court along with Zaid Ikram, an aide arrested along with him. Islamabad police operations chief Tahir Alam Khan said Tuesday the two men were being questioned for possible roles in attacks on US and allied forces in Afghanistan as well as terrorist attacks in Pakistan.
Khan said Saifullah is affiliated to Harkat Jihad-e-Islami, an al Qaeda-linked group that recruits militants to fight foreign forces in Afghanistan. He said Ikram _ who is Saifullah's younger brother _ played a major role in a bomb attack on Islamabad's Marriott hotel in 2004, in which one guard was killed in the parking lot.