Al-Libbi being questioned by Pakistani security officials

Al-Qaida’s reputed No. 3 Abu Farraj al-Libbi stayed silent for hours following his capture this week before confessing his identity to interrogators whose initial results have been forwarded to the US, an intelligence official said today.

Al-Libbi was detained on Monday after a firefight with security forces in northwestern Pakistan. US President George Bush hailed the arrest as a victory that removes a key enemy, and jubilant Pakistani officials said the capture will boost the hunt for Osama bin Laden.

The Libyan terror suspect, allegedly a close confidant of bin Laden, was Pakistan’s most-wanted man, accused of masterminding two 2003 assassination attempts against President General Pervez Musharraf that left 17 other people dead.

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid confirmed to The Associated Press today that al-Libbi was still in Pakistan’s custody and that he was being questioned, but declined to give details.

However, an intelligence official familiar with the investigation said al-Libbi was being questioned by Pakistani counter-terrorism experts and security officials. He said US officials were not present at the interrogation, but that Pakistan shared its preliminary findings with them.

He said that al-Libbi initially refused to speak.

“He remained silent for hours, but he had to admit that he is al-Qaida. He had no other option because our people had very solid evidence to prove his identity,” said the Pakistani official.

Al-Libbi, who’s thought to use at least five aliases, was behind only Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahri and bin Laden himself in the terror group’s hierarchy, US counter-terrorism officials said.

Al-Libbi is believed to be responsible for planning attacks in the US, the officials said.

Commandos seized al-Libbi along with another foreigner on Monday after a firefight outside the town of Mardan, about 30 miles from the northwestern city of Peshawar, Pakistani officials said. The arrests were announced on Wednesday. The other suspect was not identified.

Witnesses said one of the two men was disguised with a burqa, the all-encompassing garment worn by women in conservative Islamic families.

Villagers in the Mardan suburb of Shahdand Baba told Associated Press Television News that a small team of Pakistani security agency officers pounced as two men travelled by motorcycle across a dusty graveyard.

One man was captured quickly, while another, who was dressed in a burqa, managed to escape temporarily. He fled to a big home of Mardan resident Zakir Khan, and was pursued by Pakistani intelligence agents who “came in through our roof,” Khan said.

“One man was hiding in the guest quarters and they found him there,” Khan said. “He was a fat man with a long beard and a fair complexion. They arrested him.”

It was not clear if the man was al-Libbi or the other suspect.

The arrest broke a long drought in the dragnet for bin Laden and his top lieutenants. The terror mastermind has evaded a manhunt since the September 11, 2001 attacks, appearing periodically on videotapes to warn of more violence. He is believed hiding along the border between Pakistan and Afghanistan.

In Washington, Bush called al-Libbi capture a “critical victory” that “removes a dangerous enemy who is a direct threat to America and for those who love freedom”.

Ahmed, the Pakistani information minister, said no decision had been made about whether al-Libbi would be handed to the US or tried in Pakistan – where he is likely to face the death penalty if he is convicted in the December 2003 bombings against Musharraf.

“At this stage, our prime concern is to fully investigate him,” Ahmed said.

US officials said the arrest was the most significant since the March 1, 2003, capture of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, al Qaida’s No. 3 at the time, also in Pakistan. They said it was the result of months of close co-operation between Pakistan and the CIA.

Pakistan, which neighbours Afghanistan, has arrested more than 700 al Qaida suspects since late 2001 and handed most of them over to the US.

Al-Libbi’s name was not on the FBI list of most wanted terrorists.

However, Vince Cannistraro, the former head of the CIA’s counter-terrorism centre, said that did not mean that the rest of the intelligence community didn’t want him – badly.

“In intelligence circles, he was certainly considered the No. 3 man,” he said.