June 27, 2002	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 15, 1423

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ISLAMABAD, June 26: Pakistan government has handed over to the US authorities some 327 suspected Al-Qaeda members since the launch of the US-led anti-terror campaign in Afghanistan last year.

Senior defence sources told Dawn Wednesday that over the last eight months Pakistani authorities apprehended a total of 378 suspected Al-Qaeda associates of whom 327 are now in the American custody.

Military intelligence sources confirmed the total tally and said Yemenis topped the list of those arrested. There are a total of 87 Yemenis and seven French nationals among the 327 suspected Al-Qaida associates, besides an undisclosed number of Sudanese, Saudi Arabian, Palestinian, Syrian, Libyan, Moroccan and Chechnyan nationals.

Sources said these Al-Qaeda members were transported by the American authorities to some unknown foreign location where they were under interrogation.

Pakistani authorities, who are working in close co-operation with the US security agencies, made these arrests during a series of search operations. These raids were conducted by special forces in collaboration with the military intelligence in various parts of the country, including the tribal areas.

The highest ranking Al-Qaeda associate apprehended so far by the Pakistani authorities is Abu Zubaydah, considered to be the right hand man of Osama bin Laden. Zubaydah’s capture in Faisalabad on March 28 during a midnight raid was the result of a joint Pakistan-US intelligence operation.

He is now in the US custody at an undisclosed place and reportedly under intense interrogation.

Pakistani troops are deployed in thousands along the country’s tribal belt bordering Afghanistan to nab Al-Qaeda members who may have taken refuge there following the US-led military operation in Afghanistan.