Leak Allowed al-Qaida
Suspects to Escape
Sun Herald.com
MATTHEW PENNINGTON
Associated Press
Posted on Tue, Aug. 10, 2004
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - President Gen. Pervez Musharraf says
Pakistan has been "90 percent" successful in arresting suspects
behind a series of high-profile terror attacks, including against
key government leaders.
Yet senior officials said Tuesday that some al-Qaida fugitives
escaped after news reports revealed the arrest of a computer
expert for Osama bin Laden's network who was cooperating with
investigators.
Muhammad Naeem Noor Khan, a 25-year-old Pakistani, was nabbed
in a July 13 raid in the eastern city of Lahore. His capture was
a signal victory for Pakistan, a key U.S. ally in the war on
terrorism. He led authorities to a key al-Qaida figure and sent
e-mails to terrorists so investigators could trace their
locations.
In an interview published in a Pakistani newspaper Tuesday,
Musharraf hailed the efforts of the country's intelligence
agencies.
"We have achieved an unprecedented 90 percent success to
unearth elements involved in terrorist attacks against myself,
prime minister-in-waiting Shaukat Aziz and in other high-profile
cases," Musharraf was quoted as saying by The News.
Pakistan has seen a string of bombings and suicide attacks
over the past year, including two suicide bombings by Islamic
militants that the president narrowly escaped in December, and
another last month targeting Aziz, the current finance minister
and prime minister designate. Seven people were killed in the
attack, though Aziz was unhurt.
The attacks appear to have reinforced Musharraf's resolve to
crack down on al-Qaida, whose elusive leader has long been
believed to be hiding out someplace along Pakistan's forbidding
border with Afghanistan. Pakistan has arrested about 30 terror
suspects in less than a month.
But on Tuesday, two senior officials expressed dismay that the
arrest of Khan made it into the media too soon - reported first
in American newspapers on Aug. 2 after it was disclosed to
journalists by U.S. officials in Washington.
"Let me say that this intelligence leak jeopardized our plan
and some al-Qaida suspects ran away," one of the Pakistani
officials said on condition of anonymity.
National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice acknowledged Sunday
that Khan's name had been disclosed to reporters in Washington
"on background," meaning that it could be published, but the
information could not be attributed by name to the official who
had revealed it.
The Pakistani officials said that after Khan's arrest, other
al-Qaida suspects abruptly changed their hide-outs and moved to
unknown places. On Monday, Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., asked
the White House to explain why Khan's name was revealed.
The disclosure on Aug. 1 came as the Bush administration was
defending its decision to warn about possible attacks against
U.S. financial buildings in New York, Washington and Newark, New
Jersey.
White House spokesman Scott McClellan cautioned Monday that
information may be more limited about future raids against
al-Qaida suspects.
Khan led authorities to Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani - a Tanzanian
with a $25 million American bounty on his head for his suspected
involvement in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in east Africa
- and the capture of about 20 other al-Qaida suspects. The
arrests also prompted a series of raids in Britain and uncovered
past al-Qaida surveillance in the United States.
Pakistani officials over the weekend have said they are
searching for two North Africans: Abu Farj, a Libyan, and Hamza,
an Egyptian, who are believed to have spent some time in Pakistan
with Ghailani.
A Pakistani security official, who also spoke on the condition
of anonymity, said Tuesday that despite failing to capture some
al-Qaida suspects after Khan's arrest, the country's security
agencies were chasing them and would eventually get them.
The official would not reveal the names or nationalities of
the fugitives who evaded arrest.
Ghailani and Khan are still in the custody of Pakistan.
Officials say Ghailani and Khan's computer contained
photographs of potential targets in the United States and
Britain, including London's Heathrow Airport and underpasses
beneath London buildings.
Eds: Associated Press writer Munir Ahmad contributed to this
report.
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