Arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed a severe blow to Al-Qaida, claims US attorney general

US ATTORNEY GENERAL John Ashcroft told Congress yesterdaty that a major arrest over the weekend “is a severe blow to al-Qaida that could destabilise their terrorist network worldwide.”

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, mastermind of the September 11 attacks, was “the brain” of Osama bin Laden’s al-Qaida organisation and bin Laden’s “senior terrorist attack planner,” Ashcroft told the Senate Judiciary Committee. “Next to bin Laden, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the FBI’s most wanted terrorist,” Ashcroft said. Ashcroft also announced the January arrests of a Yemeni cleric who officials said secretly raised money and recruited troops for al-Qaida and Hamas. A complaint unsealed yesterday in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, charges Sheik Mohammed Ali Hasan al-Moayad with providing material support to a terrorist network.

“The FBI undercover operation developed information that al-Moayad personally handed Osama bin Laden $20 million from his terrorist fundraising network,” Ashcroft said.