April 2, 2002	Tuesday	Muharram 18,1423

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FAISALABAD, April 1: Special teams have been constituted to find out details about the alleged Al-Qaeda leaders.

A well-placed source said here on Monday that three teams have been constituted which would find local men who had links with Al-Qaeda members who were arrested during Thursday’s operation.

He said prime suspects were the workers and leaders of banned militant organizations Lashkar-i-Taiba and Jaish-i-Muhammad.

The teams have also been directed to trace hideouts of terrorists, he added.

Meanwhile, local police teams also questioned some neighbours of the house in Faisal Town from where 19 alleged Al-Qaeda leaders were arrested, he said.

A police official, who was a member of the raiding team, said on condition of anonymity that the FBI agents showed photographs of wanted men, including the most wanted Abu Zubaidah, Abu Al-Hasnat, Nooruddin, Dawood, Kamil, Badar and Al-Mujahid, to all the team members.

Abu Zubaidah, reportedly the right-hand man of Osama bin Laden, has been working hard to regroup Al-Qaeda leaders and other militant groups. He came to Pakistan after the death of Aimanuz Zehrvi, the deputy of Osama, during the US bombing by Afghanistan and started reactivating its group members in the country and abroad, he claimed.

According to eyewitnesses, FBI personnel supervised the operation and entered the premises after Al-Qaeda members had been overpowered, he added.

They said none of the Al-Qaeda members offered any resistance thinking they were being arrested by the Pakistani forces. When they saw FBI agents they got furious and started shouting at them.

An arrested man, who was handcuffed, kicked an FBI agent who fell at a distance. When members of police team tried to tie his legs, it was revealed that one of his legs was artificial, an eyewitness claimed.