International

Osama aide held in Pak.?

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD MARCH 30. Pakistan media has claimed that the Pak-U.S. joint raids on the Al-Qaeda hideouts inside Pakistan had led to the arrest of a close aide of Osama bin Laden, the second-in-command of the network.

However, there is no official confirmation. Senior functionaries of the Musharraf Government dubbed the reports as baseless speculation.

The prominent Pakistani English daily, The News, in a front-page report said that the the Al-Queda top functionary arrested during the combined operations by the Pakistani and U.S. agencies was Abu Zubaida.

It said that Zubaida, who reportedly coordinated the activities of the Al-Qaeda, was arrested from the one of the several hideouts of the militants raided during the joint operations in Faisalabad and Lahore in the past two days. He was reportedly injured.

The paper quoted unnamed officials as saying that one of the arrested had a close resemblance to Abu Zubaida and that other details would emerge during interrogation.

"However, sources insisted he was Zubaida'', it said.

Other reports in the local media said that the so-called joint operations had been temporarily halted and that over 65 militants, mostly foreigners, had been captured.

The decision to halt the raids was taken after an assessment that the other militants holding out in other hideouts might have gone underground, these reports said.

Fifty persons were arrested on March 28 while 15 were held on Friday. Two militants who resisted were killed and several, including some Pakistani security forces, were injured.

Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

International

News: Front Page | National | Southern States | Other States | International | Opinion | Business | Sport | Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary |

Stories in this Section

• U.N. asks Israel to withdraw troops
• 'U.S. must rein in Israeli hawks'
• 'Osama kin horrified by violence'
• Britain on course for mid-April Afghan operations
• Osama aide held in Pak.?
• Serbia under pressure to hand over suspects
• Musharraf hints at reforms before polls
• `Govt., LTTE conduct encouraging'
• Russia renews air defence offer
• Indian naval ships on goodwill visit to the Gulf

Copyright © 2002, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu