U.S. Agents Seize Terror Suspects in Pakistan Raid

[NY Times - 3/30/02] ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, March 29 - A team of American law enforcement and intelligence officials stormed several houses in Pakistan early Thursday and captured five Taliban fighters and 25 Arabs suspected of having links to Al Qaeda, senior Pakistani law enforcement officials said today.

The operation, in the towns of Faisalabad and Lahore, was carried out with the Pakistani government's permission and with special Pakistani police forces, the officials said. At least two Pakistani policemen and one suspect were killed in the raid, Pakistani officials said.

It was believed to be the first time that American law enforcement and intelligence officials had conducted such a raid in another country since the Bush administration began its campaign against terror. Until now, American help in pursuing terror suspects abroad has largely been limited to training and intelligence sharing.

The Pakistani officials were reluctant to provide details of the operation, fearful that the heavy American involvement in what amounted to a police action could inflame sensitivities over sovereignty for Gen. Pervez Musharraf, Pakistan's president.

In an interview today, Interior Minister Moinhuddin Haider appeared to lay to rest another issue striking the same nerve, saying that the main suspect in the killing of the American journalist Daniel Pearl would not be handed over to the United States to stand trial any time soon, if ever.

One senior Pakistani official said the Americans involved in the operation on Thursday included four F.B.I. agents equipped with sensitive monitoring equipment that allowed them to pick up telephone conversations in Arabic and pinpoint them.

Another official said the American team also included one C.I.A. agent and one official from the American Embassy. He also said that some 20 heavily armed Americans took part, though Gen. Tommy R. Franks, chief of the United States Central Command, said in Washington that none of his troops were involved.

"I think that there was cooperation between assets of our government and assets of President Musharraf's government," he said. "And I suspect, in the days and weeks ahead, that the full construct of all of that will come out."

A spokesman for the American Embassy here declined to comment on the raid, beyond saying that the United States and Pakistan had been cooperating on several investigations.

"It was a joint operation," a senior Pakistan government official said.

Pakistani officials said the raid took place 12 hours after the Americans approached the Pakistan government with intelligence about the suspects and then sought and received Pakistani permission to carry out the operation.

Those rounded up, the officials said, will be flown to Kandahar, Afghanistan, and eventually to Guant.namo Bay. The detained included Afghans, as well as men from Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria and Egypt, officials said. They said most had fled Afghanistan in recent weeks.

The Pakistani officials would say little more about the circumstances of the raid and about those seized. Nor would they say whether the suspects might have been involved in previous terror attacks or were planning new ones. They said they had no evidence that the men were connected to the bombing of a Protestant church here on March 17 that killed five, including the wife of an American diplomat and her daughter.

American officials have been saying for weeks that many Al Qaeda and Taliban members have slipped across the border into Pakistan, where they are regrouping and preparing terrorist activities.

Mr. Haider, who is one of President Musharraf's closest advisers, said the raid "should make it very clear that no terrorist can enter our territory and not be found."

He also said Pakistani troops were doing their best to seal the border, but "we cannot guarantee with 100 percent certainty that no one will get through."

American officials have suggested that American soldiers may cross the border into Pakistan in pursuit of the fleeing enemy, a possibility that has caused a political maelstrom here. Mr. Haider said that American forces would not be granted permission to carry out such an operation.

He said that if the United States would provide the intelligence on the whereabouts of suspects, "we will do the dirty work."

Mr. Haider, whose older brother was assassinated by extremists last December, touched on another delicate subject, the possibility that Pakistan would hand over Ahmed Omar Sheikh, the main suspect in the killing of Mr. Pearl, to the United States.

Going beyond what officials have said before, Mr. Haider said that, if convicted, Mr. Sheikh would have to complete his sentence here before being turned over to the American authorities.

Previously, Pakistani officials had held out the possibility that Mr. Sheikh would be turned over after his trial here ended. Mr. Haider's statement appeared to be a defeat for the Bush administration, which has made no secret of its desire to have Mr. Sheikh brought to trial in the United States.

Several senior Bush administration officials made requests to President Musharraf directly that Mr. Sheikh be handed over.

Mr. Haider said that he had had numerous conversations with American officials about the case and that they were satisfied that Mr. Sheikh would not be handed over.

"They feel that the Pakistan judicial system will do justice in this case," he said.

If convicted, Mr. Sheikh could be sentenced to death and hanged, an outcome that the Bush administration has said would be satisfactory, a senior Pakistani official said. He added that the Bush administration had indicated that it would push for Mr. Sheikh to be taken to the United States if he was acquitted or given a sentence of only 20 to 30 years.

Mr. Sheikh was brought into court in Karachi today for the final reading of charges against him. The trial is scheduled to begin April 5, the prosecutor, Rafi Qureshi, said, and under the antiterrorism law it should be finished in one week.

The trial may be held in the prison, for security reasons, and it may be closed to the public, Mr. Qureshi said.

In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without profit or payment to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this information for non-profit research and educational purposes only.

[posted 3/31/02]

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