Pakistan said on Monday it had arrested a senior member of al-Qaeda with help from the US, dealing a fresh blow to the Islamist militant group and prompting both countries to say they were working closely on counterterrorism.
The capture and arrest of Younis al-Mauritani in the southwestern city of Quetta and comments about the intelligence cooperation suggested the US and Pakistan were putting behind them the bitterness caused by the unilateral raid by US forces that killed al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on May 2.
“This is an example of the longstanding partnership between the US and Pakistan in fighting terrorism, which has taken many terrorists off the battlefield over the past decade,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said. “We applaud the actions of Pakistan’s intelligence and security services that led to the capture of a senior al-Qaeda operative who was involved in planning attacks against the interests of the United States and many other countries.”
The Pakistan army said in a statement that bin Laden had personally told Mauritani to focus on targets of economic importance in the US, Europe and Australia.
“He was planning to target United States’ economic interests, including gas/oil pipelines, power generating dams and strike ships/oil tankers through explosive-laden speed boats in international waters,” it said in a statement.
While his exact status inside al-Qaeda was unclear, Western intelligence officials had said last year that Mauritani had been involved in plots to attack multiple targets in Europe in the summer of last year.
Pakistani commentators interpreted the arrests of Mauritani and two other senior al-Qaeda operatives as a breakthrough after months of sour relations between the US and Pakistan.
Pakistani security analyst Imtiaz Gul said it meant intelligence sharing had been restored between Pakistan’s Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency and the CIA.
“This is what the situation demanded,” he said. “The entire Pakistan-US relationship basically revolves around the CIA and ISI, and now it appears they are resuming their normal contacts.”
The Pakistani army, which had taken steps to limit CIA activities after being embarrassed by the raid that killed bin Laden, said the Quetta arrests had been carried out with “technical assistance” from US intelligence.
“Both Pakistan and United States intelligence agencies continue to work closely together to enhance security of their respective nations. The intimate cooperation between Pakistan and United States intelligence agencies has resulted in the prevention of a number of high profile terrorist acts, not only inside Pakistan/United States, but also elsewhere in the world,” it said.
In Washington, a US official said Mauritani’s capture was “another major blow to al-Qaeda.”
“The US provided critical lead information and technical assistance in working with Pakistan to eliminate the threat posed by this terrorist,” said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Mauritani played “an absolutely central role in planning and coordinating al-Qaeda’s operations in Europe, plots that targeted both European and American interests,” he said.
“The Pakistanis deserve real credit for their hard investigative and operational work in taking deadly threats like al-Mauritani off the battlefield,” the official said. “There is clearly more to be done and both sides recognize the imperative of acting together against these dangerous targets.”
Pakistan, describing the capture as “another fatal blow” to the militant group, identified the other captured al-Qaeda operatives as Abdul Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami. No further details were provided.
Al-Qaeda had already been reeling from bin Laden’s death and other setbacks before news of Mauritani’s arrest.
US officials have said al-Qaeda’s deputy chief, Libyan national Atiyah abd al-Rahman, was killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan near the Afghan border on Aug. 22. However, Pakistani officials have not confirmed his death.
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