Pakistan says al-Qaida suspect handed to US

Pakistan has handed to the US the senior al-Qaida suspect Abu Farraj al-Libbi who was wanted for two assassination attempts against President Gen. Pervez Musharraf.

Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokesman Jalil Abbas Jilani confirmed a reported comment by Musharraf published in a newspaper in the United Arab Emirates today that al-Libbi had been handed over, but gave no further details.

“The president made a statement to this effect. The president’s statement was self-explanatory. I don’t have further details,” Jilani told a news conference in Islamabad.

Some officials have described al-Libbi as al Qaida’s No.3 leader, after Osama bin Laden and Egyptian surgeon Ayman al-Zawahri. However, he does not appear on the FBI list of the world’s most-wanted terrorists, and his exact role in al Qaida is murky.

He was arrested on May 2 after a shoot-out in north-western Pakistan.

On May 31, Musharraf said Pakistan would hand al-Libbi, who is a Libyan, to the US.

“Yes, we turned Abu Farraj al-Libbi over to the United States recently, and we don’t want people like him in our country,” Musharraf was quoted as saying.

The Pakistani leader did not say when or how al-Libbi was handed over or provide other details.

In Pakistan, al-Libbi was wanted for allegedly masterminding two attempts on Musharraf’s life in December 2003. The president was unhurt, but 17 people died in the second attack.