Sept. 6 (Bloomberg) — Pakistan’s army said it arrested a senior al-Qaeda leader, Younis al-Mauritani, responsible for the militant group’s international operations, with help from U.S. intelligence agencies.
The Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate captured Al- Mauritani and two other al-Qaeda operatives, Abdul Ghaffar al- Shami and Messara al-Shami in the southwestern city of Quetta, the military’s press office said in an e-mailed statement. The arrest, which follows months of U.S.-Pakistani tension over counter-terrorism cooperation, is part of “a strong, historic intelligence relationship” between the agency known as ISI and U.S. intelligence agencies, the statement said.
“Al-Mauritani was tasked personally by Osama bin Laden to focus on hitting targets of economical importance in the United States of America, Europe and Australia” and envisioned attacks on “gas/oil pipelines, power-generating dams” and oil tankers or other ships, the army statement said.
The announcement comes two weeks after U.S. officials say an American missile killed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, who had become al-Qaeda’s deputy leader following the killing in May of Osama bin Laden by U.S. Navy Seals in Pakistan.
While Abd al-Rahman was a well-known figure, described by the U.S. government as a central al-Qaeda leader, al-Mauritani hasn’t been prominent in analysts’ accounts of its leadership and has not previously been named as its operational leader. Among the few earlier public references to him, the German news magazine Der Spiegel last year cited sources it did not name as saying he had met German Islamic militants in Pakistan to discuss attacks on economic targets in Europe.
Intelligence Cooperation
The statement underscored U.S.-Pakistani cooperation, saying that “both Pakistan and United States intelligence agencies continue to work closely together to enhance security of their respective nations.” The arrest announcement follows what Admiral Mike Mullen, the chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff, in July called the “low point” in the countries’ security cooperation.
Since January those tensions have included the shooting by a CIA contract employee of two Pakistanis in Lahore and his seven-week detention before being released. The strains escalated with the unilateral U.S. commando raid into Pakistan to kill bin Laden, Pakistan’s expulsion of more than 100 U.S. military personnel, and the U.S. withholding $800 million in military aid to Pakistan.
Mullen has been among U.S. officials who have spoken publicly about frustrations with the ISI, saying on April 20 that it still “has a longstanding relationship” with a Taliban faction led by Jalaluddin Haqqani. A recent Defense Department report called him “the most significant threat” to U.S. forces in eastern Afghanistan.
