A ‘senior Al Qaeda operative’ identified as Muhammad Ali Qasim Yaqub alias Abu Sohaib al Makki has been arrested by the security agencies from Karachi, said the Pakistan Army on Tuesday.
The military, however, did not say when the arrest was made. According to preliminary investigations, Makki is a Yemeni national and has been working directly under the al Qaeda leadership along the Pak-Afghan border, said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations.
“The arrest of Makki is a major development in unravelling the al Qaeda network operating in the region,” the statement said.
Meanwhile, BBC reported that Makki was once named by a jihadist website as a leader of a group of ‘Arab Afghans’ in Afghanistan.
The presence of the world’s most wanted man barely a few hundred meters from the military’s elite academy raised questions about the commitment of security forces to fight al Qaeda.
Pakistan, however, denies it was aware of Bin Laden’s hideout and the country’s security agencies might have colluded with al Qaeda to protect him.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 18th, 2011.
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