ISLAMABAD, March 16: Pakistani and FBI agents on Sunday interrogated Yasser Al-Jazeeri, a suspected Al Qaeda member, who was arrested in Lahore on Saturday.
US-educated Moroccan Yasser Al-Jazeeri was moved to Islamabad for questioning after his capture in a raid.
Al-Jazeeri is believed to be involved in communications, logistics and Al Qaeda’s business operations, but not as an operational planner or plotter of attacks.
“He is significant. He is a key Al Qaeda lieutenant,” a US official told Reuters in Washington.
His arrest follows the capture two weeks ago in Rawalpindi of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, often portrayed as number three in Al Qaeda and suspected of being a leading figure behind the Sept 11 attacks on the United States.
It also came a day after Washington waived sanctions imposed after Gen Pervez Musharraf’s 1999 coup, clearing the way for the release of more than $250 million in economic aid.
Al-Jazeeri told the agents who captured him he had spoken to Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden five-and-a-half months ago from the Afghan town of Spin Boldak, using communications equipment with a 300km range, an intelligence source told Reuters.
