December 29, 2001	Saturday	Shawwal 13, 1422

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KOHAT, Dec 28: A six-member FBI team, assisted by top Pakistan Military Intelligence officials, is interrogating 139 Al-Qaeda men detained at the central prison, Kohat, to give its findings to their headquarters in the US for a final action against terrorist organizations all over the world, Dawn learnt from one of the interrogators on Friday night.

The US understands that this information would be the only first-hand report regarding the activities and members of the Al-Qaeda in other countries of the world.

“They (the Al-Qaeda men) will be the only source to tell the Americans what plans Osama bin Laden had in his mind before and after the Sept 11 attacks,” the source confided to Dawn on the condition of anonymity.

So far they had been able only to know that Osama was alive, and efforts were under way to get more information from them.

The source further said that the US authorities were very much satisfied with the progress so far made in this connection and appreciated the role of Pakistan in its war against terrorism.

The FBI team comes to Kohat by a C-130 Army plane every night and after collecting information from a batch of 25 members of the Al-Qaeda, leaves for Islamabad in the same plane.

The military officials have hired the services of an Arabic-speaking man who translates the conversation between the FBI men and the Arab captives, including two French Muslims.

Earlier, a team from Islamabad had interviewed all the Al-Qaeda men and prepared a report and another report is being prepared by another agency to tally both of them before a final assessment.

The source quoted the Al-Qaeda men as telling the FBI team that Osama and Mulla Omar were still alive, inside Afghanistan and safe. “Till their (Al-Qaeda men’s) arrest last week both (Osama and Omar) were alive and survived the heavy US bombing in the Tora Bora area,” the Al-Qaeda men said. They also told the FBI team that there were still 6000 to 7000 Al-Qaeda men inside Afghanistan or astride the long unmanned border.

The source further said that all Al-Qaeda men would be sent to their native countries for trial once the FBI got the required information about their links to the Sept 11 attacks. He said that Pakistan was not in a position to conduct trial of such a large number of foreign terrorists involved in crimes outside Pakistan.

The source said that some of the Al-Qaeda terrorists had sneaked into Pakistan in small groups and were sheltering inside the tribal territory, protected by some tribesmen. He further said that efforts were under way to negotiate their handing over to the military authorities by the tribal elders but the terms and conditions had not been finalized yet. He hoped that a deal would soon be finalized.

The Kohat airbase and the central prison had been cordoned off by Pakistan Army Special Services Group commandos and the security of the FBI team is being personally supervised by the head of the SSG, Brigadier Haroon.

The FBI team had also hired the services of a handful of intelligence officers from the Arab countries who are assisting them in identifying the Al-Qaeda men and their connections with the hard-liners and terrorist organizations operating inside their countries.

The leader of the Arab intelligence team is permanently staying at the KDA circuit house which had been declared as the Operation and Control headquarter of the SSG and Military Intelligence officers from Islamabad.