US interrogates key al-Qaida suspect held in Pakistan

US OFFICIALS led the interrogation of a key al-Qaida suspect Ramzi Binalshibh yesterday, as Pakistan pondered likely extradition requests from the US or Germany.

Pakistani officials said that they were prepared to send the militants abroad for trial, but said that no decision had been reached on where they should go. Pakistani security forces, acting on a tip-off from US agents, arrested Binalshibh in the southern port city of Karachi on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks he is accused of helping to plan.

The arrest followed a three-hour gun battle involving hundreds of police that left two al-Qaida suspects dead and at least six policemen wounded.

At least one other raid was conducted in Karachi earlier in the week.

Binalshibh and a second high-level al-Qaida suspect as well as 10 others are being held in a secret, high-security location in Pakistan.

"They are being interrogated to retrieve maximum possible information about other al-Qaida suspects in Pakistan," said an army sourceThe source said the arrested men were kept blindfolded and handcuffed during questioning, with the two leading suspects held separately from their colleagues. Binalshibh, wanted by Germany for his alleged role in planning and carrying out the hijacked plane attacks on the US, is one of the most important al-Qaida members to be taken into custody over the past year.

US officials said the Yemeni national, who was refused a visa into the US at least four times before September 11, 2001, wanted to join the 19 hijackers involved in the attack on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

On Saturday, US President George W Bush hailed the capture and vowed to hunt down other suspects still at large. "One by one, we're hunting the killers down.

"We are relentless, we are strong, and we're not going to stop," he told reporters at Camp David.

Pakistani Interior Minister Moinuddin Haider earlier said Islamabad was ready to hand the suspects over to US authorities if there was evidence they were involved in terrorist activities.

The German government said it also wanted to try Binalshibh. Binalshibh was aoommate of Mohamed Atta - the suspected ringleader of the September 11 hijackers - in Hamburg, Germany.