Pakistan has handed over to U.S. authorities about 20 Arabs arrested last week in raids on suspected al-Qaeda hideouts, a senior intelligence official said Sunday.
According to AP, one of the detainees resembles a key lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, police officials said. U.S. and Pakistani authorities are trying to determine if the suspect is Abu Zubaydah, who sources said had taken effective control of al- Qaeda after the collapse of Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
The intelligence officer told AP that the Arabs would be flown to the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where hundreds of al-Qaeda and Taliban prisoners are detained.
The prisoners were believed to have been sent to Jacobabad air base in southern Sindh province, which is being used by the U.S. military for its campaign in Afghanistan. The Arabs were among 60 people arrested Thursday in raids in the cities of Faisalabad and Lahore.
Agents seized weapons, laptop computers and other documents. One suspect was killed and five people, including a policeman, were wounded.
The intelligence official said authorities discovered the location of the hideouts after interrogating seven people — Pakistanis, Ugandans, Sudanese and Mauritanians — who were arrested this month along the Afghan-Pakistan border. (Albawaba.com)
