Another setback for Al-Qa'eda as Pakistani security forces catch a chief terrorist suspect, reports Iffat Malik from Karachi Last week, police in Karachi were celebrating the capture of one of the most wanted Al-Qa'eda suspects. Appropriately enough, he was captured on the anniversary of 11 September. The capture marks a huge breakthrough in the yearlong hunt for the perpetrators of the 11 September attacks, and could yield significant information about the remaining Al-Qa'eda network. On the morning of Wednesday 11 September, police in Karachi went to an apartment building in search of two men. They were acting on a tip from American FBI officials, who apparently used a satellite phone conversation to pinpoint the building. Other men inside the apartment fired at the policemen, who quickly called in dozens of reinforcements. A three-hour gun battle followed, during which two militants were killed and seven policemen and a small girl were injured. The remaining suspected Al-Qa'eda members gave themselves up. Journalists saw only two men being led away, later it came to be known that a total of 10 had been arrested. President Musharraf told reporters in New York that one Egyptian, one Saudi and eight Yemenis had been captured in the raid. Only on Friday was it revealed that one of the Yemenis was Ramzi Bin Al-Shabih. Ramzi Bin Al-Shabih has been high on the 'most wanted' list of Al-Qa'eda members. The 30-year-old Yemeni is believed to be one of the original 11 September hijackers. He was part of the Al-Qa'eda cell in Hamburg that has been identified as one of the cornerstones of the 11 September plans. Al-Shabih shared a flat with ringleader Mohamed Atta. He applied four times for an American visa to attend flight school. Investigators believe that after Al-Shabih was repeatedly refused a visa, Zacharias Mousaoui took his place in the hijack operation. Mousaoui was in detention on immigration charges when the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon took place. If he was to be part of the operation, this would account for the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania having just four hijackers on board, while the other three planes each had five. Even though Al-Shabih did not make it to the US, police believes he still played a role in the attacks, providing financial and logistical support to the other hijackers. The US indictment against Mousaoui names Al-Shabih as an 'unindicted co-conspirator' and accuses him of wiring money to Mousaoui and Marwan Al-Shehhi, another of the hijackers. Al-Shabih fled Germany on 5 September 2001, apparently making his way to Afghanistan via Pakistan Last week the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera television station aired an interview with Al-Shabih that it had recorded in June. The reporter Yosri Fouda said he had interviewed Al-Shabih at a secret location in Karachi. In the interview, Al-Shabih praises the 19 hijackers for their 'real acts of heroism' and boasts that he was one of the coordinators of the 11 September attack. He says Atta called him on 29 August, and told him a riddle -- "two sticks, a dash and a cake with a stick down", which indicated the date of the attack. Little wonder then that the Pakistanis and Americans are delighted to have finally captured him. "He's a very big fish to catch," said one former CIA counter-terrorism expert. "He certainly was the coordinator of the 11 September operation itself, and he might know some of the people who may still be in the United States if we can get him to talk." Al-Shabih is actually the second most senior Al-Qa'eda member to have been caught by police, the most senior being Abu Zubaida who was arrested in March. The Pakistani authorities are especially delighted. They have periodically had to listen to accusations that they are not doing enough to capture Al-Qa'eda members. President Musharraf described the raid as "a major achievement by ISI" and claimed "the arrest of these people is a proof that Pakistan is doing whatever possible to curb terrorism." Unfortunately, the arrest also proves the allegations that cities like Karachi and the country's semi-autonomous tribal belt have become a haven for Al-Qa'eda fugitives. Abu Zubaida was also arrested in Pakistan. The capture of Ramzi Bin Al-Shabih could ironically increase pressure on the Pakistani authorities to clampdown on Al-Qa'eda. For the moment Al-Shabih and the other Al-Qa'eda suspects arrested in Karachi are being held at an undisclosed Inter-Services Intelligence location in Pakistan. But Al-Qa'eda suspects and at least Al-Shabih will almost certainly be extradited to another country. The remaining question is to where. It is likely that both Germany and the United States will likely seek his extradition. Germany had already issued an international arrest warrant for Al-Shabih, and the German Interior Minister Otto Schily made it clear that "this would be pursued". If the Germans have first claim on Al-Shabih they could prove reluctant to hand him on to the US, where he could face the death penalty. European Union law forbids the extradition of suspects to countries that carry out the death penalty. In a final unexpected twist to this story, the Al-Jazeera television channel found itself on the defensive last week. Al- Shabih's arrest just days after the channel aired its interview with him, led to accusations that it played a role in his arrest. An Arab language web-site warned: "We would like to indicate that if, God forbid, this news is correct, this means there was a kind of treason that caused brother Ramzi to fall into the hands of those infidels, which requires a warning to all brothers." Al-Jazeera's editor-in-chief was quick to deny any involvement. Pointing out that Al-Jazeera interviewed Al-Shabih in June, he asked, "Why would the Americans and the Pakistanis wait three months to arrest a man of Bin Al-Shabih's importance?" During the same weekend, American officials announced that they had uncovered a small Al-Qa'eda cell operating in New York State. It appears that one year after 11 September, the authorities are finally making progress in their hunt for Al-Qa'eda suspects.
