Pakistan questions bin Laden tape suspect

Pakistani police are questioning a Sudanese man they suspect delivered a tape-recording of Osama bin Laden to a television reporter in Islamabad.

The man worked for the World Assembly for Muslim Youth, a Saudi Arabian-based charity, one security official said.

The Pakistan office of the charity was raided last week by intelligence officials and American FBI agents, he said.

In the tape, broadcast by the Al-Jazeera Arab television channel on November 12, the terror chief praised the nightclub bombings on Bali that killed nearly 200 people and the takeover of a Moscow theatre by Chechen rebels that ended in the deaths of 129 hostages and 41 attackers.

American experts say they believe the tape is authentic and unedited.

Pakistan’s Interior Ministry has said it is stepping up efforts to “track the footprints” of those helping bin Laden’s al-Qaida network.

US intelligence officials say they believe many top al-Qaida operatives as well as senior Taliban have fled to Pakistan.

Pakistan’s government is a key supporter of the US-led war against terrorism. Its support has come under fire from the country’s religious right, which made large gains in October’s general elections.

The religious parties campaigned on a strong anti-American platform and won control of the legislatures in two provinces that border Afghanistan