Terror Chief Captured

 

In the war against terror, it’s been a race against time as governments work to prevent terror attacks. Saturday, CIA and Pakistani agents staged a joint pre-dawn raid near Islamabad, Pakistan. Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a senior operative in the al Qaeda network, was captured and whisked away to an undisclosed location outside of the U.S. The suspected mastermind of the terror attacks that killed more than 3,000 people from the U.S., Britain, Spain, Russia, Japan, Italy, Australia and over 70 other nations on September 11, 2001 is currently being interrogated.

U.S. counterterrorism officials are working to gain intelligence through questioning and items confiscated during the raid that could help disrupt attacks being planned or lead to added precautions. It is believed that recent plans being drawn up led back to Khalid and were in part responsible for the terror alert being raised to the color orange, meaning "High" risk. Abdul Qudoos, was also arrested in the Saturday raids by agents in Pakistan due to his suspected involvement with al Qaeda.

"Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was the chief operating officer of Al Qaeda. The effect that his capture will have on Al Qaeda as an organization is devastating. And the effect that it has on the safety of the American people and our allies cannot be overstated," said a U.S. counter-terrorism official.

Statement by the Press Secretary
Detention of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed

The United States commends Pakistani and U.S. authorities on the completion of a successful joint operation which resulted in the detention of several Al Qaida operatives, including Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is one of Usama Bin Laden’s most senior and significant lieutenants, a key Al Qaida planner and the mastermind of the September 11th attacks. He is known to have been centrally involved in plotting by Al Qaida terrorists since September 11th, 2001–including plots to launch attacks within the United States.

Khalid Shaikh Mohammed is on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists, and has been under U.S. indictment since 1996 for the Manila air conspiracy, a plot to bomb a series of U.S. civilian airliners.

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Officials suspect that Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, was involved in last year’s kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, and may have even carried out Pearl’s execution.

It has been reported that Mohammed plotted with his nephew Ramzi Yousef, on a number of operations in the Philippines. Yousef is currently imprisoned for his participation in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.

Officials have been silent on where Mohammed is being held. However, it’s clear that information gathering is of top priority in order to halt planned terror operations.