The arrest of six men in Pakistan linked to al-Qaeda netted one of the terror group’s top 10 members, a U.S. intelligence official said Wednesday. Waleed Mohammed Bin Attash was among those arrested Tuesday in Karachi. A Saudi with many aliases, his crimes include a key planning role in the bombing of the USS Cole and in the Sept. 11 attacks, officials say. The other five are Pakistanis. Officials say one is a nephew of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks who was caught in March. The arrest indicates that Pakistan remains a key hiding place for the planners of the bloodiest terror attack in U.S. history. It also shows that al-Qaeda’s ability to move since U.S. forces routed it from camps in Afghanistan is severely limited. U.S. officials praised what they called the continuing importance of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to the U.S.-led war against terrorism. After Sept. 11, Musharraf ended support for the Taliban government in Afghanistan and assisted the U.S. military campaign to rout al-Qaeda from its bases there. Full Story
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