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India-Pakistan

Alleged Al Qaeda suspect's release seen as blow to Pakistan

2007-08-22

The release of a man suspected of links to Al Qaeda could undermine Pakistan’s claims of winning the battle to contain terrorism within its borders, analysts and experts said on Tuesday. Pakistan’s Supreme Court heard on Monday that Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, who is alleged to have been an Al Qaeda computer expert, had been released without charge after three years in custody. Khan, who was arrested on July 12, 2004 in Lahore, is now at home in Karachi, his lawyer Babar Awan told AFP. Shortly after his arrest, Pakistani investigators said interrogations of Khan and searches of his computer files and email records led them to an active worldwide Al Qaeda ring that was plotting fresh attacks in Britain, Pakistan and the United States. They said Khan helped Al Qaeda by developing secret codes and helping its operatives send encrypted email to each other. A senior official involved in the investigation told AFP, “He [Khan] was a key figure in 2004 Al Qaeda plots to stage new terror strikes in the US, Great Britain and Kenya and his arrest led to the capture of an Al Qaeda sleeper cell in great Britain. But there was no serious attempt made by the intelligence agency which had him in custody for the past three years to initiate any legal proceedings.” According to the official, who did not want to be identified, Khan could have been tried under the Security of Pakistan Act or for waging war against other countries using Pakistan as a base. “But when the Supreme Court started hearing the petition early this year, it was too late to initiate any legal proceedings against Khan,” he said. Khan’s case is among several where people arrested on suspicion of plotting attacks on Western targets and helping Al Qaeda have later been released by courts. Awan said he had petitioned the Supreme Court in an attempt to discover his client’s whereabouts, part of a case taken by relatives and rights groups on behalf of hundreds of missing people allegedly abducted and held without charge by intelligence agencies. “I told the Supreme Court that so far the government had not indicted Khan and no case had been registered against him,” Awan said. In another case, heart specialist Akmal Waheed and his brother, orthopaedic surgeon Arshad Waheed, were jailed for seven years in March 2005 for alleged Al Qaeda links. Their convictions were set aside last year. Analysts said these and other cases undermined the credibility of the government’s claims to be making progress in curtailing terrorist activities within Pakistan’s borders. “It shows that the real culprits are free to do whatever they want and the authorities are catching innocent people to prove their efficiency,” said defence analyst Talat Masood. “It weakens Pakistan’s case when it says that we are fighting terrorism and then it arrests people who are not genuinely involved suspects,” he added. “Catching the wrong people also gives big leverage to militants who are active in the country. That is why there is so much cynicism against the war on terror and many people are now saying its a farce.” Political analyst Hasan Askari said Pakistani intelligence officials’ claims of success in conquering the Al Qaeda threat were running out of steam because of the inability to prove charges against suspects. “In the war against terrorism it is a very serious problem that you cannot come up with evidence against the terror suspects because most of the evidence is circumstantial and hard to prove in a court,” Askari said. Any perceived propaganda value of “high-profile” arrests such as Khan’s was also evaporating as the courts pressured authorities to build better cases and produce solid evidence, he added.

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India-Pakistan

Al-Qaeda expert with links to Heathrow plot is released

2007-08-21

A computer expert who was accused of being al-Qaeda’s communication chief and was linked to the Heathrow bomb plot has been freed by Pakistani authorities. Lies! All lies!! He's as innocent as a puppy. Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan was arrested in Lahore in July 2004 but never charged. Uh huh. Investigations had shown that he was the key connection between Osama bin Laden’s inner circle and al-Qaeda’s operatives in Britain and the United States. He had also worked in close association with Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the mastermind of the September 11 attacks. Close your eyes, put your fingers in your ears, and shout "Puppy! Puppy!" Pakistani investigators said that Mr Khan had invented secret codes that enabled al-Qaeda operatives to send encrypted e-mails and messages via the internet. The information gleaned from Mr Khan’s computer after his arrest revealed al-Qaeda’s plans for terrorist attacks against Britain and top financial institutions in the US. He's innocent anyway! Puppieeeee! His interrogation helped to break down al-Qaeda’s cell in Britain and led to the arrest of Dahron Bharot, alias Eassa al-Hindi, and nine others. Bharot has recently been sentenced to 20 years jail. Among those arrested was Mr Khan’s cousin, Ahmed Babar. So he had lots of info on the bad guys on his computer, his cousin is in the clink, but this guy didn't do ANYTHING wrong except maybe pee on the rug a little bit. Pakistan’s Deputy Attorney-General, Mahbooba Elahi, said yesterday that Mr Khan had been allowed to return to his home in Karachi. "Go forth, and encrypt no more!" She gave no explanation as to why he was freed. Because he looked at you with those sad puppy-dog eyes? Never mind Ms. Elahi: I'm sure us Rantburg people can dream up a few possible explanations.

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Good morning

2007-08-21

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India-Pakistan

Pakistan frees Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan

2007-08-21

A Pakistani accused of using his computer skills to help al-Qaeda has been released after three years in custody, a government official and the man's lawyer said Monday. Pakistani officials have said that information from Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan quickly led them to a Tanzanian wanted for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa, which killed more than 200 people. Khan, who was captured in the eastern Pakistan city of Lahore in July 2004, has also been linked with terror plots in the U.S. and Britain, and to the arrests of suspects in Britain. Deputy Attorney General Naheeda Mehboob Ilahi said in the Supreme Court on Monday that Khan, believed to be in his late 20s, was released and returned to his home in the southern city of Karachi. Ilahi provided no details. The court has been pressing the government for information on dozens of people whose relatives say they were picked up and held incognito by Pakistani intelligence agents for alleged links to militants. Khan's lawyer, Babar Awan, confirmed that his client had returned to his family but said he had not been able to speak to his client to ask where he had been held, and by whom. Awan said Khan was never charged or brought before any court. Khan, an engineering graduate, was suspected of being a point man who sent coded e-mails to al-Qaeda operatives possibly planning attacks in the United States, Britain and South Africa. Twelve days after his arrest, Pakistani authorities pounced in the city of Gujrat on Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, who had a $25 million bounty on him for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. Information from those captured, including maps and photos found on their computers, helped prompt the U.S. government to issue a warning about a possible al-Qaeda attack on financial institutions in New York and Washington. Clues gained after Khan's arrest helped British investigators nab Dhiren Barot, a confessed al-Qaeda terrorist sentenced last year to life imprisonment for plots to bomb U.S. financial targets such as the New York Stock Exchange and London hotels and train stations.

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Terror Networks

Osama Bin Laden will never surrender, says ex-jihadi

2006-03-09

A Saudi Muslim scholar who spent years with Arab jihadis in Afghanistan said he knows Osama bin Laden well and that the Al Qaeda leader would never surrender, according to a report published Wednesday. “He will never surrender because he seeks death and yearns for it,” said Musa al-Qorni in an interview with Saudi-owned pan-Arab newspaper Al-Hayat. He added that he believed bin Laden, the mastermind of the September 11, 2001 attacks against the United States, is at present under the sway of the “Egyptian jihad group” led by Al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri and acts according to its plans. Qorni said he and others tried to convince bin Laden when he was in Sudan in the mid-1990s to come back to Saudi Arabia and “lead a normal life”, but that the Saudi-born militant snubbed them and returned to Afghanistan. I was thinking about this very subject yesterday, and started to write on it. Naturally, with such an interesting idea, I was interrupted and couldn't get back to it. I think we've seen enough ferocious bad guyz by now to have a pretty good statistical feel for their actions when cornered. Some are assisted from the gene pool without being given the opportunity to demonstrate their "yearning for death," notably by being helizapped, so they can be dropped from the equation. Udai and Qusay fought it out to the bitter end. In Soddy Arabia they tend to shoot it out to the bitter end — one wonders, in fact, if they're given a choice in the matter. But Sammy was found cowering in the receiving end of an outhouse and gave up. Abu Zubaydah was wounded and gave up. Khalid Sheikh Mohammad was captured in his underwear. Ramzi bin al-Shibh let the minions do the shooting, then gave up. Abdur Rehman gave up, complaining that his human rights had been violated when RAB turned off the water. Bangla Bhai managed to set fire to himself, but then he gave up. Abu Faraj al-Libbi? Captured. Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, ditto. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, captured. Hambali, captured. Hassan Ghul, captured. Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, captured. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani ("Foopy"), also captured. Louai Sakra, captured. Are we getting the impression that "You'll never take me alive, coppers!" only applies to the lower ranks? I think that when Binny's finally cornered his feet will turn out to be the same fine grade of clay as Sammy's. Same with Zawahiri, and same with Zarqawi. You heard read it here first.

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Terror Networks

Human Rights Watch's list of "ghost prisoners"

2005-12-02

Take a good, long look at the people on this list and you can decide for yourself whether or not you have any problems with this. I sure don't. 1. Ibn Al-Shaykh al-Libi Reportedly arrested on November 11, 2001, Pakistan. Libyan, suspected commander at al-Qaeda training camp. 2. Abu Faisal Reportedly arrested on December 12, 2001 3. Abdul Aziz Reportedly arrested on December 14, 2001 Nationality unknown. In early January 2002, Kenton Keith, a spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, produced a chart with the names of senior al-Qaeda members listed as killed in action, detained, or on the run. Faisal and Aziz were listed as detained on Dec. 12 and 14, 2001. 4. Abu Zubaydah (also known as Zain al-Abidin Muhahhad Husain) Reportedly arrested in March 2002, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Palestinian (born in Saudi Arabia), suspected senior al-Qaeda operational planner. 5. Abdul Rahim al-Sharqawi (aka Riyadh the facilitator) Reportedly arrested in January 2002 Possibly Yemeni, suspected al-Qaeda member (possibly transferred to Guantanamo). 6. Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi Reportedly arrested in January 2002 Nationality unknown, presumably Iraqi, suspected commander of al-Qaeda training camp. U.S. officials told Associated Press on January 8, 2002 and March 30, 2002, of al-Iraqi's capture. This is a different Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi who was placed in command of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan yesterday (who had previously been in command of Brigade 055 rather than a training camp), for those keeping score. 7. Muhammed al-Darbi Reportedly arrested in August 2002 Yemeni, suspected al-Qaeda member. The Washington Post reported on October 18, 2002: "U.S. officials learned from interviews with Muhammad Darbi, an al Qaeda member captured in Yemen in August, that a Yemen cell was planning an attack on a Western oil tanker, sources said." On December 26, 2002, citing "U.S. intelligence and national security officials," the Washington Post reports that al-Darbi, as well as Ramzi Binalshibh [see below], Omar al-Faruq [reportedly escaped from U.S. custody in July 2005], and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri [see below] all "remain under CIA control." 8. Ramzi bin al-Shibh Reportedly arrested on September 13, 2002 Yemeni, suspected al-Qaeda conspirator in Sept. 11 attacks (former roommate of one of the hijackers). 9. Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (or Abdulrahim Mohammad Abda al-Nasheri, aka Abu Bilal al-Makki or Mullah Ahmad Belal) Reportedly arrested in November 2002, United Arab Emirates. Saudi or Yemeni, suspected al-Qaeda chief of operations in the Persian Gulf, and suspected planner of the USS Cole bombing, and attack on the French oil tanker, Limburg. 10. Mohammed Omar Abdel-Rahman (aka Asadullah) Reportedly arrested in February 2003, Quetta, Pakistan. Egyptian, son of the Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, who was convicted in the United States of involvement in terrorist plots in New York. See Agence France Presse, March 4, 2003: "Pakistani and US agents captured the son of blind Egyptian cleric Omar Abdel Rahman. . . a US official said Tuesday. Muhamad Abdel Rahman was arrested in Quetta, Pakistan, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity." David Johnston, New York Times, March 4, 2003: "On Feb. 13, when Pakistani authorities raided an apartment in Quetta, they got the break they needed. They had hoped to find Mr. [Khalid Sheikh] Mohammed, but he had fled the apartment, eluding the authorities, as he had on numerous occasions. Instead, they found and arrested Muhammad Abdel Rahman, a son of Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman, the blind Egyptian cleric. . ." 11. Mustafa al-Hawsawi (aka al-Hisawi) Reportedly arrested on March 1, 2003 (together with Khalid Sheikh Mohammad), Pakistan. Saudi, suspected al-Qaeda financier. 12. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed Reportedly arrested on March 1, 2003, Rawalpindi, Pakistan. Kuwaiti (Pakistani parents), suspected al-Qaeda, alleged to have "masterminded" Sept. 11 attacks, killing of Daniel Pearl, and USS Cole attack in 2000. 13. Majid Khan Reportedly arrested on March-April 2003, Pakistan. Pakistani, alleged link to Khalid Sheikh Mohammad, alleged involvement in plot to blow up gas stations in the United States. Details about Khan's arrest were revealed in several media reports, especially in Newsweek: Evan Thomas, "Al Qaeda in America: The Enemy Within," Newsweek, June 23, 2003. U.S. prosecutors provided evidence that Majid Khan was in U.S. custody during the trial of 24-year-old Uzair Paracha, who was convicted in November 2005 of conspiracy charges, and of providing material support to terrorist organizations. 14. Yassir al-Jazeeri (aka al-Jaziri) Reportedly arrested on March 15, 2003, Pakistan. Possibly Moroccan, Algerian, or Palestinian, suspected al-Qaeda member, linked to Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. 15. Ali Abdul Aziz Ali (aka Ammar al Baluchi) Reportedly arrested on April 29, 2003, Karachi, Pakistan. A Pakistani, he is alleged to have funneled money to September 11 hijackers, and alleged to have been involved with the Jakarta Marriot bombing and in handling Jose Padilla's travel to the United States. U.S. Judge Sidney Stein ruled that defense attorneys for Uzair Paracha could introduce statements Baluchi made to U.S. interrogators, proving that he was in U.S. custody. Former Deputy Attorney General James Comey also mentioned Baluchi during remarks to the media about the case of Jose Padilla on June 1, 2004 16. Waleed Mohammed bin Attash (aka Tawfiq bin Attash or Tawfiq Attash Khallad) Reportedly arrested on April 29, 2003, Karachi, Pakistan. Saudi (of Yemeni descent), suspected of involvement in the bombing of the USS Cole in 2000, and the Sept. 11 attacks. See Afzal Nadeem, "Pakistan Arrests Six Terror Suspects, including Planner of Sept. 11 and USS Cole Bombing," Associated Press, April 30, 2003. His brother, Hassan Bin Attash, is currently held in Guantanamo. 17. Adil al-Jazeeri Reportedly arrested on June 17, 2003 outside Peshawar, Pakistan. Algerian, suspected al-Qaeda and longtime resident of Afghanistan, alleged "leading member" and "longtime aide to bin Laden." (Possibly transferred to Guantanamo.) 18. Hambali (aka Riduan Isamuddin) Reportedly arrested on August 11, 2003, Thailand. Indonesian, involved in Jemaah Islamiyah and al-Qaeda, alleged involvement in organizing and financing the Bali nightclub bombings, the Jakarta Marriot Hotel bombing, and preparations for the September 11 attacks. 19. Mohamad Nazir bin Lep (aka Lillie, or Li-Li) Reportedly arrested in August 2003, Bangkok, Thailand. Malaysian, alleged link to Hambali. 20. Mohamad Farik Amin (aka Zubair) Reportedly arrested in June 2003, Thailand. Malaysian, alleged link to Hambali. 21. Tariq Mahmood Reportedly arrested in October 2003, Islamabad, Pakistan. Dual British and Pakistani nationality, alleged to have ties to al-Qaeda. 22. Hassan Ghul Reportedly arrested on January 23, 2004, in Kurdish highlands, Iraq. Pakistani, alleged to be Zarqawi's courier to bin Laden; alleged ties to Khalid Sheikh Mohammad. 23. Musaad Aruchi (aka Musab al-Baluchi, al-Balochi, al-Baloshi) Reportedly arrested in Karachi on June 12, 2004, in a "CIA-supervised operation." Presumably Pakistani. Pakistani intelligence officials told journalists Aruchi was held by Pakistani authorities at an airbase for three days, before being handed over to the U.S., and then flown in an unmarked CIA plane to an undisclosed location. 24. Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan (aka Abu Talaha) Reportedly arrested on July 13, 2004, Pakistan. Pakistani, computer engineer, was held by Pakistani authorities, and likely transferred to U.S. custody. (Possibly in joint U.S.-Pakistani custody.) 25. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani Reportedly arrested on July 24, 2004, Pakistan Tanzanian, reportedly indicted in the United States for 1998 embassy bombings. U.S. and Pakistani intelligence officials told UPI that Ghailani was transferred to "CIA custody" in early August. 26. Abu Faraj al-Libi Reportedly arrested on May 4, 2005, North Western Frontier Province, Pakistan. Libyan, suspected al-Qaeda leader of operations, alleged mastermind of two assassination attempts on Musharraf. Col. James Yonts, a U.S. military spokesman in Afghanistan, "said in an email to The Associated Press that al-Libbi was taken directly from Pakistan to the U.S. and was not brought to Afghanistan."

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Home Front: WoT

Foopie Said in U.S. Custody

2005-01-25

A Tanzanian al-Qaida operative who was captured in Pakistan last year and is on the FBI list of most-wanted terrorists was handed over to U.S. officials and flown out of the country months ago, Pakistani security officials said Tuesday. Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani is wanted in connection with the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombings in east Africa that killed more than 200 people. He was arrested by Pakistani intelligence agents in July after a shootout in the eastern city of Gujrat. Since then, officials have refused to divulge the whereabouts of Ghailani, who had a $5 million bounty on his head. But on Tuesday, a senior security official confirmed on condition of anonymity that the suspect had left Pakistan months ago. "He's leaving, on a jet plane, don't know when he'll be back again....." However, the official would not say whether Ghailani had been shifted to the U.S. high security detention facility for terror suspects at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. "We have no idea, and as a matter of fact we don't ask such questions," he said. Either Bagram in Afghanistan, or the black hole known as Deigo Garcia. Another security official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ghailani was handed over to the U.S. officials because he had committed a "heinous crime against them" in Africa. A U.S. Embassy spokesman said he had no information about Ghailani's whereabouts. The CIA isn't about to tell the State Department Ghailani, believed to be aged between 30 and 34, is one of the FBI's 22 most wanted terror suspects. He has been indicted in the Southern District of New York for his alleged role in the 1998 bombings in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya. Twelve Americans were among the more than 200 people killed. At the time of his arrest, about 15 other people, including women and children, were also captured. It's unclear what has happened to them. We're hoping it was very painful, whatever it was... After Ghailani's capture, intelligence officials said that they found "valuable information," including plans for attacks against the United States and Britain, on a computer recovered from a house where Ghailani had been staying. Officials said that Ghailani was captured on a tip given to Pakistani officials by Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, a Pakistani and alleged al-Qaida computer expert, who was arrested about two weeks before him in the eastern city of Lahore. Pakistan has so far arrested more than 600 al-Qaida suspects from different parts of the country. They include al-Qaida No. 3 leader, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who was arrested in March 2003 during a raid in Rawalpindi, a garrison city near the capital, Islamabad. Almost all the foreign suspects, including Mohammed, were later handed over to U.S. officials. Al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri remain at large. They are still suspected to be hiding in the rugged border regions between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

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Britain

How al-Qaeda's London plot was foiled

2004-11-24

AL-QAEDA terrorists had to abandon a plan to fly hijacked airliners into Canary Wharf, the London skyscraper, and Heathrow airport after being "rumbled" by British and European intelligence services. The plot was made public this year but senior Whitehall sources gave further details yesterday of the intelligence work involved. Reports on ITV News and in a newspaper implied that the attacks had been thwarted recently. But, the sources said, the intelligence operation was in fact completed at least two years ago. Plots against Canary Wharf, in London Docklands, and Heathrow were confirmed in July when intelligence officers in Pakistan found incriminating files on computers that belonged to one of al-Qaeda's members. Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, 25, a suspected terrorist arrested after a raid in Lahore, Pakistan, was at the centre of al-Qaeda's computer communications hub. He encrypted and distributed messages between the network's leadership and agents around the world. Among the files on Khan's computers were a plan of the layout of Heathrow and information from reconnaissance of the Canary Wharf complex, including vehicle height restrictions for the underground car parks there. There were also suggestions for "picture postcard" targets, such as the Houses of Parliament and Windsor Castle, and discussions of potential assassination targets. But the plots referred mainly to planning that pre-dated the attacks in New York and Washington on September 11, 2001.

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Britain

Azzam.com webmaster charged

2004-10-07

Court documents have revealed alleged communications between a British citizen and Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, an al Qaeda computer expert arrested in Pakistan in July. The newly released indictment alleges that Babar Ahmad communicated with Naeem Noor Khan, an al Qaeda expert arrested in Pakistan in July. Until U.S. officials leaked the arrest of Khan to reporters, Pakistan had been using him to track down al Qaeda operatives around the world, Pakistan intelligence sources said in early August. In background briefings with journalists, unnamed U.S. government officials said it was the capture of Khan that provided the information that led Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge to announce a higher terror alert level.

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Terror Networks

Libyan is possible conduit to bin Laden

2004-08-20

By Paul Watson Tribune Newspapers: Los Angeles Times Fri Aug 20, 9:40 AM ET Security forces here are hunting a Libyan Al Qaeda leader whom senior Pakistani intelligence officials see as a possible key to finding Osama bin Laden and others in the terrorist network's inner circle. Captured Al Qaeda suspects have consistently named a Libyan, Abu Faraj Farj, as the man who gave them instructions for attacks, including two attempts to assassinate Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf late last year, two senior intelligence officials said Thursday. The suspects also say they believe the Libyan is in direct contact with bin Laden and his chief lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said the intelligence sources, who spoke on condition that they not be identified. Suspecting Farj's hand in numerous terrorist plots, Pakistani investigators say that if they can capture the Libyan, he may lead them to bin Laden, the sources said. "We will know much more about the inner workings [of Al Qaeda] and have better information on the latest position of Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahiri and others in the hierarchy," one of the intelligence officials said. Pakistani officials see Farj as a key player in a second string of Al Qaeda leaders who are stepping in to take the place of commanders who have been killed or captured. The Libyan has planned operations in Pakistan and abroad and falls somewhere in the Top 10 of Al Qaeda leadership, the official added. A U.S. counterterrorism official on Thursday confirmed Farj's stature in Al Qaeda but refused to comment further. In local newspapers Wednesday, Pakistan's government published a picture of Farj, wearing a jacket, tie and a neatly trimmed beard, and offered nearly $350,000 for information leading to his arrest. Five Pakistanis were also identified in the notice, which had a red headline, "Most Wanted Terrorists." Rewards for their capture start about $85,000. Pakistani suspect Amjad Hussain, alias Amjad Farooqi, also has a nearly $350,000 bounty on his head. A source said he is thought to have played a lead role in the 2001 slaying of kidnapped American journalist Daniel Pearl. In the past month, Pakistani security forces have arrested more than a dozen foreign Al Qaeda suspects. The army has been carrying out raids in tribal areas, which were once out of bounds to the military, and officials believe the pressure is scattering Al Qaeda members to towns and cities farther south. Police have intensified their crackdown in recent days by raiding mosques and madrassas, Muslim religious schools, which militant groups have long used as recruitment centers. An Algerian Al Qaeda suspect was captured Thursday in Peshawar, capital of the North-West Frontier province, after police shot him in the neck when he tried to run a roadblock near his house. A second man escaped, police said. Farj, also known as Abu Faraj al-Libbi and Dr. Taufeeq, also has been based in the Pashtun tribal areas of South Waziristan, on Pakistan's northwestern border with Afghanistan, the intelligence sources said. "According to our information, he's the person in charge of operations in the tribal areas," one of the intelligence officials said. "We feel he has been a mastermind and a direct link between Al Qaeda and Pakistani elements, which are an extension of Al Qaeda and which are responsible for the assassination attempts on President Musharraf." Suspected Al Qaeda computer coordinator Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, captured July 13, also named Farj as one of his contacts. Khan's laptop computers and disks contained what investigators believe are reconnaissance reports on major financial buildings in the United States.

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Britain

Al-Qaeda 'UK link' at terror summit

2004-08-16

THE man alleged to have been al-Qaeda's UK operations chief and recently seized in a police raid attended a summit of terrorists in Pakistan just five months ago, according to reports yesterday. Abu Musa al-Hindi, who officials believe had been working on a plan to attack Heathrow airport, attended the terrorist summit in Waziristan in March, according to US and Pakistani government officials interviewed by Time magazine. President Musharraf of Pakistan told Time that the meeting had exposed the "second string" of al-Qaeda's leadership and was "extremely significant". Some US officials fear that the meeting may have been a key planning session, similar to the 2000 meeting in Kuala Lumpar that gave the final go-ahead for the September 11 terror attacks. Mr al-Hindi was arrested after a tip-off from Pakistani intelligence, which says that he had been in close contact with Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, an alleged al- Qaeda computer operative seized in Pakistan this month. The capture of Mr Khan triggered the recent arrests in the UK and Pakistan and information on his computer led to the terror alerts at financial institutions in New York, Washington and New Jersey. Officials insist that Mr Khan, whose alleged role was to send coded orders to al-Qaeda agents around the world, had been in direct contact with Mr al-Hindi about a Heathrow operation and had visited Britain at least six times in recent years. A US official said: "This was a meeting of cold-blooded killers who are very skilled at what they do." A senior counter-terrorism official said analysts were studying the recent pattern of terrorist activity against previous large attacks. This had contributed to the worry that at least some members of a strike team were already in the US.

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Terror Networks

Terrorist summit held in Waziristan in March, el-Shukrijumah in attendance

2004-08-15

It was a gathering of terrorism's elite, and they slipped silently into Pakistan from all over the world in order to attend. From England came Abu Issa al-Hindi, an Indian convert to radical Islam who specializes in surveillance. From an unknown hideout came Adnan el-Shukrijumah, an accomplished Arab Guyanese bombmaker and commercial pilot. And from Queens in New York City came Mohammed Junaid Babar, a Pakistani American who arrived with cash, sleeping bags, ponchos, waterproof socks and other supplies for the mountain-bound jihadis. The March 2004 terrorist summit in the lawless province of Waziristan, described to TIME by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf last week and expounded on by U.S. officials, has become a subject of obsession for authorities in both countries. "The personalities involved, the operations, the fact that a major explosives expert came here and went back," Musharraf said, "all this was extremely significant." Although some summit participants have been arrested, others are still at large and are considered very dangerous. At least two are believed to have done some of the surveillance of targets in New York City and elsewhere that authorities found out about last month. Some U.S. officials fear that the meeting may have been a pivotal planning session, much the way a 2000 meeting in Kuala Lumpur was for the 9/11 attacks. "This was a meeting of a bunch of cold-blooded killers who are very skilled at what they do and have an intense desire to inflict an awful lot of pain and suffering on America," says an official familiar with the summit. A senior counterterrorism official said analysts are scrutinizing the recent pattern of enemy activity against timelines of previous attacks. This, he said, has contributed to the worry that at least some members of a strike team are already in the U.S. Musharraf told TIME that the discovery of the March meeting has exposed the "second string" leadership of al-Qaeda. Summiteer Mohammed Babar, 29, was arrested in Queens in April, shortly after returning from Pakistan. He has been charged with trying to buy materials to make bombs for use in attacks in Britain. Al-Hindi, who is in his mid-30s, is also in custody, in England, having been picked up two weeks ago. U.S. officials say he was in e-mail contact with Mohammed Naeem Noor Khan, 29, the Pakistani techie whose computer contained much of the material about staging attacks with helicopters and limousines—as first reported in TIME—that led to the decision by U.S. officials two weeks ago to raise the alert level at financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington. Al-Hindi had been sent to the U.S. to case economic and "Jewish" targets in New York City, the 9/11 commission stated in its report last month. He also passed along several contacts in the U.S. to senior al-Qaeda leaders in case they "needed help," the commission reported.

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