A suspected al Qaeda explosives expert detained in Pakistan was in Iran before Sept. 11, 2001, but Iran on Sunday denied Pakistani assertions he fled to Iran after the suicide attacks in the United States. Abdul Sattar Sharif ul Misri, an Egyptian al Qaeda operative, was arrested on Monday in the southwestern province of Baluchistan, which borders Iran and Afghanistan. A Pakistani intelligence official said ul Misri fled to Iran after the Sept. 11 attacks and visited Pakistan from Iran occasionally. “His family still lives in Iran,” the intelligence official said. When asked by journalists about arrest, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi replied: “This relates to before September 11 when he was in Iran.” He added that ul Misri had been turned back from Iran’s borders after Sept. 11 but had not been in the country for more than three years. Shi’ite Muslim Iran says it was always ideologically opposed to Osama bin Laden’s Sunni al Qaeda network and denies providing a safe haven to al Qaeda fugitives. Full Story
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