US authorities have taken the suspected mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks out of Pakistan to an undisclosed location after capturing him in a joint raid by CIA and Pakistani agents, a senior government official said yesterday.
The arrest Saturday of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a senior operative in Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, and two other men outside the Pakistani capital of Islamabad likely will hurt the terrorist organization's ability to strike and could provide the United States with new clues in the hunt for bin Laden.
"It's hard to overstate how significant this is," White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said. "It's a wonderful blow to inflict on al-Qaeda."
Mohammed, 37, is perhaps the most senior al-Qaeda member after bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri.
A naturalized Pakistani who was born in Kuwait, Mohammed is on the FBI's most-wanted list and allegedly had a hand in many of al-Qaeda's most notorious attacks. The US government had offered a reward of up to US$25 million for information leading to his capture.
A senior Pakistani government official, speaking on condition of anonymity said Mohammed was "no longer in Pakistan" and had been taken by US officials to an undisclosed location.
Mohammed was arrested along with an unidentified man of Middle Eastern origin and a Pakistani identified as Ahmed Abdul Qadoos, a 42-year-old member of one of the country's main religious parties, Jamaat-e-Islami.
The government official said the Middle Eastern suspect was "also proving to be an important man," but would not disclose his identity. He was still in Pakistan as of Saturday evening, the official said.
The Pakistani suspect has not been handed over to the Americans.
Mohammed is the third senior al-Qaeda figure to be arrested in Pakistan. He was taken Saturday in Rawalpindi, a city near the Pakistani capital of Islamabad, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said.
CIA officers and Pakistani authorities carried out the operation that led to Mohammed's capture, according to American officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
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