Pakistanis search for suspect in September 11 attacks
Pakistan authorities have launched a nationwide manhunt for a key suspect in the Sept. 11 terror attacks in the United States after he apparently entered the country from Afghanistan, officials said.
Said Bahaji, 26, was believed to have returned to Pakistan to take a flight from Karachi to Istanbul, Turkey.
Bahaji did not show up for the flight but is believed still hiding in Karachi.
Bahaji, a German citizen of Moroccan origin, is sought under an international arrest warrant in connection with the September terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York and the Pentagon.
German authorities have said Bahaji had close contacts with some of the hijackers who flew commercial airliners into the World Trade Centre.
German investigators say Bahaji rented an apartment in Hamburg in 1998 and shared it with Mohammed Atta, a bin Laden lieutenant who was believed to have been the leader of the hijackers.
Bahaji's arrest would be a major break in efforts to establish a connection between the Sept. 11 attacks and Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida organization.
Pakistani authorities believe Bahaji and three companions traveled to Karachi from Hamburg, Germany, one week before the US attacks. The four all of whom carried Western European passports but were of Arab origin spent the night at a Karachi hotel and made calls to Hamburg.
They travelled from Karachi to the southwestern city of Quetta and were believed to have crossed the border into Afghanistan.
Bahaji confirmed a reservation on a flight to Istanbul but did not show up to get the ticket, Pakistani officials said they were confident they would find him.
