WASHINGTON, May 6: A senior American general has said that there was no US military involvement in capturing Al Qaeda’s third-ranking leader Abu Faraj al-Libbi. “I can tell you that there was no US military involvement in the Pakistani capture of al-Libbi. And in that regard, I think that the Pakistani people should be delighted that their security forces have completed such a sophisticated operation,” Lt-Gen James Conway, the director of operations for the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, told a Thursday afternoon briefing at the Pentagon.

He said that since al-Libbi tried to kill President Gen Pervez Musharraf twice “he was their number one terrorist, and now their commandos have taken him down and put him behind bars”.

The general said al-Libbi’s arrest should send a clear message to Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden that “you are not going to rest in peace. We will hunt you until your dying days or kill you if you resist.”

Gen Conway said it’s hard to overestimate the importance of this arrest as “this is one of our most significant successes in the global war on terrorism to date”. He said Al-Libbi was “the guy that would do things outside the region to get at high-level targets”.

Gen Conway described al-Libbi as his counterpart in Al Qaeda because, like him, he was in charge of the network’s operations.

At another briefing, White House spokesman Scott McClellan said that after al-Libbi’s arrest, the United States would continue “working closely” with Pakistan in the war on terror. The cooperation, he said, included “sharing intelligence and going after those who seek to do us harm”.

He said together with its allies like Pakistan, the United States would continue to go after other terrorist leaders as well and bring them to justice.

Mr McClellan said to the day the United States and its allies had brought to justice almost three-quarters of the key leaders and associates of Al Qaeda and the day al-Libbi was arrested “marked a significant moment in the global war on terrorism”.

“We applaud Pakistan for their capture of this terrorist,” he added.

At a separate briefing, State Department’s spokesman Richard Boucher said the fact that al-Libbi was not on FBI’s rewards list did not reduce his importance as a terrorist leader.

He said a suspect was put on the list only when law-enforcement agencies believe that there was information that they could get from the public by offering rewards and the information could help them track down the suspect.

“Generally, the Rewards for Justice has been a tool that we have used when the law-enforcement personnel have come to us and said, we think this would be helpful,” said Mr Boucher.