Al-Qaida bomb suspect arrested in Pakistan

A SUSPECT in the suicide bombing of an American destroyer off the coast of Yemen in October 2000 was among six suspected al-Qaida men arrested in two simultaneous raids yesterday.

Waleed Mohammed Bin Attash alias Khalid al-Attash, a captured Yemeni national, is wanted in connection with the suicide bombing of the USS Cole that killed 17 American sailors.

Pakistan arrested the six “high-profile” al-Qaida suspects who were allegedly planning a massive terror attack, the interior ministry said.

“They were planning a terrorist attack in Pakistan and that has been foiled. A major catastrophe has been averted,” the ministry’s spokesman said.

The suspects were apprehended in a raid in Karachi, the southern port city where hundreds of Islamic extremists are believed to be hiding out and where dozens have been captured.

“We arrested six al-Qaida suspects, including Waleed Mohammad bin Attash,” the spokesman said.

The men were part of a “high-profile terrorist gang related to al-Qaida”, he said.

Some 150 kilograms of high-powered explosives and a huge cache of weapons including grenades, assault rifles, pistols, a truck-load of sulphur and 200 detonators were found with the gang, he added.

“The recovered items indicate the magnitude of the terrorist attack if it had been implemented.”

Osama Bin Laden’s network claimed responsibility for the ramming of an explosives-laden boat into the hull of the US destroyer while it was docked in Aden harbour.

Around 450 al-Qaida suspects have been rounded up in Pakistan in the past 18 months, including top operatives Khalid Sheikh Mohammad and Ramzi bin al-Shaiba, alleged September 11 attack co-planners.