Closing in on al-Qaida mastermind

PAKISTANI troops believe they have surrounded Osama bin Laden's right-hand man during a fierce battle on the wild Afghan border.

Pakistani officials said last night that intelligence indicated Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaida's No 2, has been cornered in an operation. As mentor to bin Laden and the brains behind al-Qaida, al-Zawahri is considered one of the world's most dangerous terrorists.

One intelligence official said captured fighters said al-Zawahri had been wounded.

The operation began on Tuesday in South Waziristan with hundreds of troops and paramilitary rangers, who fired artillery and used helicopter gunships to attack dug-in al-Qaida fighters. Dozens of fighters were killed and 18 were captured, the intelligence official said.

"We have been receiving intelligence and information from our agents who are working in the tribal areas that al-Zawahri could be among the people hiding there," a military official said. "All of our efforts are to capture him."

An intelligence official and senior politician in President General Pervez Musharraf's government both confirmed the account. All spoke on condition of anonymity.

The United States has offered a $25 million reward for information leading to al-Zawahri's capture.

Pakistani officials said they do not have any intelligence indicating bin Laden is with al-Zawahri. In the past, intelligence officials have speculated the two are travelling together, and they appeared together in videotapes released shortly after the September 11 attacks.

Gen Musharraf said he had spoken with the commander of Pakistani troops in the region. He said the commander reported "fierce resistance" from a group of fighters entrenched in fort-like buildings and that there were indications that a senior figure was surrounded.

"He's reasonably sure there's a high-value target there," Gen Musharraf said.

He said the area was being "pounded" by artillery.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a US counterterrorism official said: "It would appear that the Pakistanis have surrounded a very senior al-Qaida figure, but at this point we are not certain who it is."

An eye surgeon who speaks several languages, al-Zawahri took the path of political extremism while in his teens.

He later guided the rich Saudi, bin Laden, along the same path, leading to the creation of the world's most feared terrorist organisation. Many believe al-Zawahri was the "operational brains" behind the September 11 terrorist attacks on the US in 2001.

Now in his early 50s, he is also thought to have been behind the 1995 suicide bombings at the Egyptian embassy in Pakistan, where 15 died and 60 more were injured.

The 1998 truck bombings at the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998, killing 224 people and injuring thousands more, are also believed to be his work.

Al-Zawahri is considered bin Laden's right-hand man, but many experts believe he is the terror leader's role model and inspiration.

"Ayman is for bin Laden like the brain to the body," said Cairo lawyer Montasser al Zayat, who has represented many Islamic militants.