Farraj’s arrest news leaked prematurely

WASHINGTON: News of Abu Farraj al-Libbi’s arrest was leaked prematurely to the press by Pakistani authorities, it has been claimed here.



Such news is often not released for weeks or months on end so as not to alert other members of the network.



Senior officials told the Washington Times that CIA operatives, some of whom recently served in the US military, are in Pakistan aiding government troops.



A report in the newspaper on Thursday said US officials expressed hope privately that if residents of Mardan were willing to turn in al-Libbi, other Pakistanis might be willing to pinpoint Osama bin Laden, for whom a $25 million reward for information leading to his capture or killing has been issued. A US counter terrorism official said al-Libbi worked for Bin Laden in 2002 as chief of his US and African operations before Khalid Sheikh Mohammed’s arrest.



The arrest of Al Qaeda’s No 3 man, in Pakistan promises to provide new information on Osama bin Laden’s life on the run and deprives the terror network of its chief operating officer, according to American counter terrorism and defence officials. They said if al-Libbi chooses to talk, he is in a position to dish out valuable information about Al Qaeda’s current structure, funding sources and attacks in the pipeline. And most importantly, he might provide information that could rekindle leads to Bin Laden that have grown cold this year. Al-Libbi is potentially the best source of information since the March 2003 capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed. “As far as an information bonanza, I know that, to this day, we are still getting actionable intelligence from Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, and he has been in custody for a couple of years now,” a senior defence official told the newspaper.