ISLAMABAD, Sept 27: Amjad Hussain Farooqi was among top Al Qaeda leaders active in Pakistan and Afghanistan and was assigned to target high-profile personalities in Pakistan , especially President Gen Pervez Musharraf, according to Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao.

Speaking at a press conference here on Monday the minister said that Farooqi often visited Afghanistan and tribal areas of Pakistan to recruit trained militants and acquire material to perpetrate terrorist attacks on Al Qaeda targets in Pakistan.

The minister said that Amjad Hussain alias Amjad Farooqi, one of the most wanted proclaimed offender, was involved in a number of terrorist activities, adding that he was the mastermind behind two suicide attacks on the president's life in Rawalpindi in December last year.

Farooqi and his accomplices had successfully evaded law- enforcement agencies for several months, the minister said. But, the minister said he was constantly monitored and tracked and was finally trapped in Nawabshah. Farooqi tried to use women and children as human shields after he was surrounded.

The minister said that a surgical strike was mounted to avoid what he termed collateral damage, which resulted in the killing of Farooqi, adding that he was killed in an encounter when he tried to charge on personnel of law-enforcement agencies with grenades.

Circumstantial evidence and intelligence information proved that the man killed was Amjad Farooqi, Mr Sherpao said, adding that DNA test was being carried out to confirm his identity.

Mr Sherpao said: "We have sufficient evidence to prove his involvement in terrorist activities and it will be presented before a court of law for formal trail at an appropriate time," he added.

Answering a question about three other terror suspects arrested after the same gun battle, the interior minister said that they were being interrogated by intelligence officials.

He said that their interrogation had so far helped security forces to unearth several impending terrorist attacks. The minister said that Farooqi was also involved in an attack on US consulate in Karachi on Jan 2, 2002. He also attacked Jaccobabad Airport by using a car and an oil tanker loaded with explosives in February 2002.

Farooqi is also stated to be the planner of attacks on churches in Islamabad and Bahawalpur. The interior minister said that intelligence agencies had found evidences about Farooqi's meetings and links with Egyptian, Libyan and other Arab Al Qaeda terrorists.

Providing details of Amjad Farooqi's association with the terrorist network, the interior minister said Farooqi joined the banned outfit Sippah-i-Sahaba in 1985 and was soon 'elevated' because of his extremist views. He joined Harkatul Jehad Al Islami in 1991 and was also associated with a Lashkar-i-Jahangvi faction.

The minister said that Farooqi was a close associate of most wanted terrorists like Naeem Bokhari, Asif Ramzi and Akram Lahori. The man, he said, had introduced Naeem Bokhari to Omar Sheikh and they had planned the murder of Daniel Pearl at Al Farooq training camp in Afghanistan.

Mr Sherpao said that Farooqi had also developed close ties with Saif Al Adil, an Egyptian top ranking Al Qaeda leader and was stated to be one of the masterminds with Abu Siraj in the aborted attempt on President Musharraf's life. During the second attempt, Farooqi executed plans with Hamza Rabbi, an Egyptian wanted terrorist, the minister said.

Abu Bakar Suri of Syria provided training and explosive expertise in these incidents and Abdul Hadi Al Iraqi was the operational chief, who is still conducting operations against the allied forces in Afghanistan, the interior minister said.