Al-Qaeda Member Among 35 Activists Of Banned Extremist Groups Arrested

Source: IRNA, 25 Jul 08

Pakistani security forces have arrested a member of al-Qaeda and 35 activists of banned extremist group during an operation in the country's northwest, the Interior Ministry said Friday.

            The arrest of Amjad, a key al-Qaeda member and other activists of outlawed groups was made in Hangu, a major city in the North West Frontier Province , Interior Advisor Rehman Malik said. The army said this week that the forces ended operation against local Taliban in Hangu after 'achieving all targets'. Army spokesman Major General Athar Abbas said that 20 local Taliban were killed and 60 others arrested during the week-long operation, launched after Taliban shot dead 17 soldiers. Malik told reporters that the arrested men are being questioned by the security agencies for their activities. The government had earlier claimed the arrest of Rafiuddin, the deputy commander of Taliban chief Baitullah Mehsod but Taliban denied the claim.

            The Interior Advisor said that suicide attacks have ended in the country's eastern Punjab and southern Sindh province and suicide attacks decreased in the troubled northwest by 80 per cent. In another development, tribal elders have brokered a temporary ceasefire between the local Taliban and the government forces in Hangu. Taliban released as a goodwill gesture eight government workers of 50 kidnapped government employees and security personnel, a tribal elder said. A jirga or council of elders held talks with local officials and local Taliban and announced a ceasefire after securing assurances from both side, Maulana Hussain Asghar, a member of the jirga said. Taliban handed over eight abductees to the jirga members as goodwill gesture, Asghar said and said that the ceasefire will continue till a formal agreement is reached. He added that Taliban have stopped all activities after the ceasefire. The jirga and Taliban will formally launch negotiations on Monday, he said.

Article Says TV Interview Proves Al-Qa'ida Leaders Not Present in Pakistan

Source: Pakistan Observer Online, in English (OSC), 25 Jul 08

Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the man believed to be Al-Qaeda's commander of operations in Afghanistan, has given a rare television interview to a private Pakistani TV channel.

            In the rare interview broadcast on Monday, July 21, 2008, al-Yazid confirmed to Geo TV that Al-Qaeda carried out the June bombing of the Danish embassy in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad . Geo say the interview was carried out by Geo TV's reporter Najib Ahmad in an undisclosed location in the Afghan province of Khost , in the east of the country. This is the first interview granted by a senior Al-Qaeda member to the independent media since 2002. Mustafa Ahmed Muhammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid (born December 17, 1955, also known as Sheikh Saeed, is an Egyptian Islamic militant and the current Al-Qaeda commander of operations in Afghanistan. Al-Yazid was imprisoned for three years in Egypt because of involvement in the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar El Sadat in 1981. During this time or shortly after he joined Egyptian Islamic Jihad, and in 1988 went to Afghanistan where he played a role in founding Al-Qaeda. The 53-year-old Egyptian, wearing a commando jacket, a white turban and dyed beard, spoke to the camera in Arabic, holding a Geo microphone in hand.

            He confirmed that an Al-Qaeda operative carried out the 2 June suicide attack on the Danish embassy in Islamabad . "We are proud of that attack, and I had congratulated my colleagues for conducting it successfully," he said. "We had chosen a time for the attack when there would be no innocent Muslims around," he added. All of the eight people who died in the attack were reported to have been Muslims. Shortly after the attack Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said on the internet that the attack was in revenge for the reprinting by Danish newspapers of a cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad considered blasphemous by many Muslims. Mustafa Abu al-Yazid is understood to be the operational commander of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan - a position which the Western intelligence community has long viewed as pivotal to the planning and execution of militant attacks around the world. He is also reported to have managed the finances for the 11 September, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington . He told the interviewer that al-Qaeda was "properly involved" in those attacks, as well as the 1998 attacks on US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania .

            Mustafa Abu al-Yazid also denounced the Pakistani government for fighting Islamic militants, justified suicide attacks and predicted victory for Taliban and Al-Qaeda forces in Afghanistan . He is thought to have climbed to the number three position in Al-Qaeda about a year ago when his predecessor, Abu Ubaida al-Masri, died of hepatitis. This is the first interview given by a senior Al-Qaeda figure since May 2002, when two key figures in the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheik Mohammed and Ramzi bin al-Shibh, were questioned by a reporter for the al-Jazeera television channel. Mustafa Abu al-Yazid has claimed his organization's responsibility for Benazir Bhutto's assassination in Dec 2007. Earlier too just after the assassination, according to Asia Times, he had claimed: "We terminated the most precious American asset which vowed to defeat Mujahedin." "This is our first major victory against those [e.g., Bhutto and President Pervez Musharraf] who have been siding with infidels [the West] in a fight against Al-Qaeda and declared a war against Mujahedin," Mustafa told Asia Times Online by telephone. He said the death squad consisted of Punjabi associates of the underground anti-Shi'ite militant group Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, operating under Al-Qaeda orders.

            The assassination of Bhutto was apparently only one of the goals of a large Al-Qaeda plot, the existence of which was revealed earlier. In his interview, Al-Yazid said the morale of fighters in Afghanistan is very high and they are putting up a tough fight against US troops. He said the resistance is gathering momentum and has become unstoppable. Listing the attacks launched by Al-Qaeda, he took credit for the attacks on US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya . He said the Karzai government would meet the same fate as other 'traitors'. There is no government that supports Al-Qaeda as the rulers have sold their faith and by doing so they have put themselves beyond the pale of Islam. He claimed that it was because of the sacrifices of the Mujahedin that Russia was unable to enter Pakistan . Musharraf's men arrested and subjected them to violence and handed them over to the Americans. What is a bigger example of collaboration with the infidels than this? This is a crime that can never be forgotten, he said.

            He said many eminent Islamic scholars have justified the practice of suicide bombing. The official Maulvis parrot those Fatwa that they are told to. He said the aim is to engage in direct combat but in many places it is not possible to reach the enemy. He maintained that it is not legitimate to target mosques in this way. He denied Al-Qaeda's hand in the attack on Aftab Sherpao in a mosque, saying his supporters never target mosques. A statement to this effect was issued to the Pakistani press soon after the attack. He condemned violence near or inside mosques and said defending the sanctity of such places of worship is every Muslim's duty. He paid tributes to Khalid Sheikh and termed him a fearless person who the Muslim Ummah is proud of. He prayed that God's curse fall on the government that handed him over to the US . Two very strong messages come out of this interview. First it lays to rest the speculation by the west that the Al-Qaeda is located in Pakistan . The interview was conducted in the Afghan province of Khost . If al-Yazid is comfortably giving interviews to private Pakistani TV channels sitting in Khost, then we can imagine where else the other Al-Qaeda leaders must be located, enjoying Afghan hospitality. The second aspect is of the allegation of Pakistan 's complicity with the militants. Mustafa Abu al-Yazid has claimed in the exclusive interview that Pakistan has damaged the terrorist organization more than any other country. This statement should put to rest any further snide comments and finger pointing regarding Pakistan 's commitment to the global war on terror.