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UAE extradites top Pakistani militant

By B. Muralidhar Reddy

ISLAMABAD, AUG. 8. Qari Saifullah Akhtar, a top Pakistani militant, suspected in two attempts on the life of the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, has been extradited to Pakistan by United Arab Emirates (UAE).

"Yes, we confirm that Qari Saifullah Akhtar has been handed over to us by UAE authorities," the Information Minister, Sheikh Rashid, told the state-run Pakistan Television. He, however, did not give any details of the circumstances under which he was apprehended in the UAE.

The Minister said Akhtar, head of Harkat Jihad-e-Islami, is wanted in connection with ongoing investigations in several cases. Akthar is believed to have been in and out of Afghanistan and in touch with Osama bin Laden.

Mr. Rashid said Akhtar's arrest was not connected to the July arrests of the key Al-Qaeda suspects, Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani, and the computer engineer, Naeem Noor Khan. Authorities believe that Ghailani was plotting fresh attacks in the United States and United Kingdom. The arrests of Khan and Ghailani, the Tanzanian suspect in the 1998 U.S. embassy bombings in east Africa, led to the capture of senior Al-Qaeda operatives in Britain and a recent high alert in the U.S. against terror attacks.

"He (Akhtar) was more active in Afghanistan and his arrest is yet another major success of Pakistan in the international war against terrorism. His arrest may lead to the arrest of other members of his group," the Minister said.

Several top functionaries of Harkat Jihad-e-Islami have been apprehended in Pakistan. One of its key operatives, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, was sentenced to death for the abduction and murder of the U.S. journalist Daniel Pearl in 2002.

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