PESHAWAR, Aug 16: The hunt for the escaped Al Qaeda operative Sheikh Abu Suleman continued on Saturday in the tribal belt adjacent to Afghanistan, official sources said.

Sources told Dawn on condition of anonymity that since the escape of Abu Suleman from Hayatabd Township after a four-hour shoot-out with the police and paramilitary troops, all the roads leading to Afghanistan were blocked.

On Thursday evening, an Al Qaeda suspect Abdur Rehman was killed and his wife was captured when she was injured during the shoot-out with the law enforcement agencies in Hayatabad Township. One of the important Al Qaeda operatives escaped during the encounter.

“We are not allowing any vehicle, including the passenger vans and buses, go without checking in the tribal region of Khyber Agency,” he said.

They said the deceased Libyan national Abdur Rahim was an important member of Al Qaeda network. His real name was Abu Hais. Like most of the Al Qaeda members Abu Hais used to use only his alias Abdur Rahim in his routine life, he added.

They said that the one-handed Sheikh Abu Suleman was the person the Pakistani law enforcers were on the look-out for, but he escaped as Abu Hais provided him shield during the encounter.

They said that Sheikh Abu Suleman and the deceased Abu Hais came during the Russian invasion and they took part in the Afghan war.

“He was an innocent person and had no links with Al Qaeda network,” said a cousin of Khadija, the widow of Abu Hais.

Requesting anonymity, he said that his father Abdul Hai, a retired senior federal government official, accepted the wish of Abu Hais, who wanted to marry a Pakistani girl.

“My father was the guardian of the 13-year-old Khadija since my uncle had died some time back,” he said. He added that Abdul Hai offered the hand of Khadija which was accepted by the deceased.

He said that Abu Hais was a gentleman and hand nothing to do with any terrorist organization. “He was a peaceful person and was living in Pakistan with a valid passport and visa,” he claimed.

Last year, a son-in-law of Abdul Hai was arrested by the Pakistani authority and later he was shifted to the camp X-Ray at Guantanamo Bay.

“Saleem Mahmood Adam, a Sudanese, was arrested on May 26, 2002, from his house in Hayatabad,” he said.

He also accused the police of taking away a huge amount, jewellry and luggage from the residence of Abu Hais after the shooting.

Meanwhile, the Jammat-i-Islami held a protest demonstration against the killing of Abu Hais, in front of Peshawar Press Club on Saturday evening.

The demonstration was led by the Mutahidda Majlis-i-Amal MNA and provincial head of JI, Sabir Hussain Awan, who during the speech criticized President Gen Pervez Musharraf for allowing the FBI to conduct raids in the country.

“No FBI” and “go back to America” were some of the slogans chanted by the charged JI workers during the protest demonstration.

Mr Awan said that Gen Musharraf had made the country a colony of America. He asked the federal government to immediately stop the killing of “Arab Mujahideen.”