NEW YORK, Nov 1: The teeming city of Karachi is being used as a base by the Al Qaeda operatives on the run said the New York Times on Friday quoting Pakistani law enforcement officials.

The paper said in a report that while US hunted for Al Qaeda leaders worldwide, Ramzi bin Al Shibh, a key planner of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, arrested and handed over to the United States in September, was living quietly in an apartment about 10 miles from the American Consulate in Karachi.

The paper said: “Ramzi’s case shows the importance of even a modicum of local support” noting that “while officials in Washington attributed his capture to American surveillance of satellite telephone calls, Pakistani officials insist that a tip from a local source led them to Ramzi. They said some people in Karachi had helped hide the senior Al Qaeda operative, while others had betrayed him.”

However, the paper said: “While Karachi has long been a centre of militancy, but it is not the lone site of such support or of anti-American sentiment. A threatened war with Iraq and American support for Israel are stoking rising anger at the United States.”

The Times said that the “Pakistani officials are convinced that Al Qaeda’s head of operations, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, remains in Karachi, hiding in an apartment in this maze of 14 million people, just as Ramzi did. Khalid Shaikh, whom American investigators consider responsible for masterminding the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, is one of America’s most sought men.”

Pakistani officials told the paper that through support from local people, elaborate secrecy and Internet communication, Al Qaeda members like Ramzi are trying to re-establish their network. In some ways they appear to be succeeding. Since Ramzi’s arrest, no senior Al Qaeda officials have been captured in Pakistan or Afghanistan.

Pakistani officials told the paper: “Ramzi’s arrest disrupted Al Qaeda’s network in the city but did not eliminate it. A year- long crackdown by the country’s ruler, Gen Pervez Musharraf, has failed to stop Pakistani militants from aiding Al Qaeda members.”