Shot militant 'was senior al-Qaida operative'
A suspect killed in a shootout with Pakistani agents this week was a senior al-Qaida operative from Syria behind militant attacks in Pakistan’s tribal regions and against US forces in eastern Afghanistan, Pakistan’s interior minister said today.
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao identified the suspect as Marwan Hadid al-Suri, 38.
He died in a gun battle on Thursday after the agents, acting on a tip-off, stopped him at a roadblock at Khar, a town near the north-western tribal region of Bajur.
“He (al-Suri) was in charge of al-Qaida operations against Pakistani forces in North and South Waziristan. He was behind attacks against coalition and Afghan forces in eastern Afghanistan,” Sherpao said.
His identity was confirmed after experts scanned a laptop computer, a diary and some other documents found in his vehicle after the shootout that left one agent dead and two wounded, a security official said.
Al-Suri, said to be an explosives experts, also ran a financial network and had distributed money among terrorists and their families, including a relative of al-Qaida’s leader in Iraq, the Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the official said. It was not clear when and where.
On the computer there was information on how to use explosives.
However, investigators found no information on the whereabouts of Osama bin Laden, his top deputy Ayman al-Zawahri or al-Zarqawi, he said.
