Officials say the capture of a top Al Qaeda financier Saturday could help thwart future attacks. The Saturday arrest of Yasser Al Jazeeri, a Moroccan national and Al Qaeda financier, is just the latest success in disrupting the terrorist organization’s shadowy financial dealings. Pakistani officials say the arrest, conducted in Lahore by Pakistani law-enforcement agencies with some technical assistance from FBI agents, could have a rapid impact on Al Qaeda’s ability to fund and organize future terrorist attacks. “It will help us to cut off the financial supply line of Al Qaeda,” says one Pakistani police intelligence official in Lahore involved in the Al Jazeeri case. He spoke on condition of anonymity. US officials in Pakistan praised the operation, but declined to speculate on its importance. “If he is an Al Qaeda financier, and we can make inroads into their financial dealings, then this is a good step forward,” says John Kincannon, US Embassy spokesman in Islamabad. Coming two weeks after the capture of Al Qaeda’s operations commander, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the arrest of Mr. Al Jazeeri is a textbook example of Pakistan’s growing cooperation with US law-enforcement and intelligence agencies. It also racks up a needed victory for Pakistani intelligence officials, who, after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, abandoned nearly a quarter-century of support for radical Islamic groups with ties to Al Qaeda. US officials credit Pakistan with turning over more than 440 suspected Al Qaeda terrorists since the beginning of the US-led war on terrorism. Full Story
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