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| Sunday, 8 May 2005 |
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Pakistan quizzes Al-Qaeda suspects ISLAMABAD, Saturday (AFP) Pakistan interrogated a number of Al-Qaeda suspects including the network's alleged third in command on Saturday after security officials said they had smashed a new plot to kill President Pervez Musharraf. Intelligence agents seized seven conspirators in central Punjab province in late April, around a week before the capture on Monday of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, allegedly a key aide of Osama bin Laden, officials said. The Libyan, accused by military leader Musharraf of masterminding two earlier attempts to blow him up in December 2003 because of his support for the US-led war on terror, had links with the assassination plotters, they added. "This is a spectacular achievement by Pakistan's security agency," said one top security official. "First we smashed the gang plotting a new attack on Musharraf and then a week later we netted two Arabs including al-Libbi." Officials said the suspects involved in the latest bid were headed by a Pakistani Al-Qaeda militant freed from prison in Afghanistan named Mohammad Arshad, who is an associate of al-Libbi. Also among them was junior air official Mushtaq Ahmed, who escaped from jail last November after being sentenced to death for a key role in one of the earlier attempts on Musharraf's life. He was recaptured last week. "The group was planning a new attack on President Musharraf in Rawalpindi or Islamabad. They had assembled the explosive devices and they were to use them adopting a new method," the intelligence official said, without giving details. The plot was revealed when security agencies arrested Ahmed, the official said. |
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