ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The man thought to be al-Qaida's operations commander, and who might know where Osama bin Laden is hiding, has been arrested in Pakistan, the government announced Wednesday.
The arrest of Abu Farraj al-Libbi, a Libyan who is also wanted in two attempts to assassinate Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, is seen by U.S. officials as significant because of his alleged control over the daily operations of al-Qaida.
President Bush called the arrest a "critical victory in the war on terrorism."
In Pakistan, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said that "this arrest gives us a lot of tips, and I can only say that our security agencies are on the right track" in the search for bin Laden.
U.S. officials tell NBC that al-Libbi might know at least the general whereabouts of bin Laden because part of his responsibility was to manage the courier networks delivering messages, video and audiotapes.
A government-released photo taken after al-Libbi's arrest shows a disheveled, bearded man with sunken eyes and an apparent a skin condition. In an earlier Pakistani "Most Wanted" poster photo, al-Libbi looked healthy and was dressed in a Western-style suit and tie.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said the U.S. government was offering a $10 million bounty for information leading to al-Libbi"s arrest, though al-Libbi does not appear to be on the FBI"s list of the globe"s most-wanted terrorists.
Sherpao would not speculate on whether the arrest might help lead to the capture of bin Laden or his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, who have eluded a 3½-year dragnet since the Sept. 11 attacks.
"We have no information" about the al-Qaida leaders, he said. "It"s premature to say (whether al-Libbi"s arrest will help track them down), but definitely interrogation is going to take place."
Sherpao said it was also too early to comment on whether al-Libbi might be turned over to the United States, but he stressed there were important cases pending against him in Pakistan.
Al-Qaida's number 3?
According to U.S. officials, al-Libbi is thought to have become al-Qaida's operations commander after the capture of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed in March 2003. Mohammed was later handed over to U.S. custody and his whereabouts are unknown.
The operations commander is thought to be third in line at al-Qaida after bin Laden and al-Zawahiri. Al-Libbi is also alleged to have earlier been Mohammed's deputy and to have had a role in planning the Sept. 11 attacks.
Al-Libbi was arrested earlier this week, Ahmed said, but he would provide no details on where al-Libbi was captured or where he is being held.
But three Pakistani intelligence sources said al-Libbi was one of two foreigners arrested Monday after a firefight on the outskirts of Mardan, 30 miles north of Peshawar, capital of the deeply conservative North West Frontier Province.
11 more arrests
One of the officials said 11 more terror suspects " including three Uzbeks, an Afghan and seven Pakistanis " were arrested before dawn Wednesday in the Bajor tribal region. The official would not say what prompted authorities to launch the raid or whether it was linked to al-Libbi"s capture.
The intelligence officials said authorities were led to al-Libbi"s hideout by a tip that foreigners had been spotted in the area. The suspect was held overnight at a military facility in Mardan, then transferred by helicopter to the capital, Islamabad, the officials said.
Al-Libbi reportedly spent time in South Waziristan, a tribal region along the border with Afghanistan that is considered a likely hideout for bin Laden. But he fled following a series of military operations in the area last year. Authorities had said privately in recent weeks that they believed they were zeroing in on his location.
Al-Libbi is accused of masterminding two bombings against Musharraf in December 2003. The military leader escaped injury but 17 others were killed in one of the attacks.
Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, named the Libyan as the chief suspect in the bombings against him. He was among six suspects identified as Pakistan"s "Most Wanted Terrorists" in a poster campaign last year.
The other suspects were all Pakistanis, linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim militant group believed tied to al-Qaida.
Another suspect killed earlier
One of the suspects, Amjad Hussain Farooqi, was killed in a shootout with security forces in southern Pakistan in September.
Farooqi, a senior member of Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, was accused of plotting the bombings against Musharraf with al-Libbi and of involvement in the kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi in 2002.
Pakistan has arrested hundreds of terror suspects since Musharraf ended the country"s support of the Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks on America.
It has handed over about 700 al-Qaida suspects to the United States, including Mohammed, Sept. 11 planner Ramzi Binalshibh and al-Qaida senior operative Abu Zubaydah.
One more down, ugly mother too
