Suspected al-Qaida Operative Arrested

Pakistani agents aided by the FBI arrested a suspected senior al-Qaida operative Saturday in the eastern city of Lahore, a government official said. The suspect, Yassir al-Jazeeri, is among the top seven alleged terrorists wanted by the United States, though he is not on the FBI’s most-wanted list, Pakistan’s Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told The Associated Press. It was not immediately known where al-Jazeeri stands in the hierarchy of the al-Qaida network, led by Osama bin Laden. “Al-Jazeeri is definitely an important al-Qaida leader and this is all I can say at this point,” Interior Ministry secretary Tasneem Noorani told the AP. “We understand that he is among those al-Qaida leaders wanted by the United States.” He said al-Jazeeri was from Morocco. He said FBI agents helped Pakistani security agents catch him, though the nature of that assistance was not immediately clear. Al-Jazeeri was arrested in the Lahore neighborhood of Gulburg, Ahmed said. The Pakistani family he had been staying with was being interrogated, but Ahmed said they were not under arrest. The arrest was the second seizure of an alleged top al-Qaida member in recent weeks. Full Story