Pakistan has arrested a key Egyptian Al-Qaeda operative who holds a senior position within the terrorist network, along with another man linked to the group, officials said.
 
The detained Egyptian man was identified by officials as Sharif Al-Misri while the second operative was an unnamed Yemeni national with a low rank in the organization.

Sheikh Rashid, who was sworn in as a member of Pakistan's new cabinet Wednesday and is likely to keep his former brief as information minister, confirmed to AFP that Al-Misri and another Al-Qaeda suspect had been held.

"He is a big catch and it is another major success of our security apparatus," Rashid said.

Explosives and circuits used in making bombs as well as satellite phones were recovered from Al-Misri's hideout, said a security official who asked to remain anonymous.

"He is one of the top operators in Al-Qaeda's hierarchy," the official told AFP, adding that his capture carried a significant reward. "Al-Misri is among the top 25 on the list of most wanted Al-Qaeda terrorists."

The security official said the pair were detained on Sunday in Quetta, the capital of southwestern Baluchistan province which borders Afghanistan and Iran.

Pakistan is in the midst of a major security crackdown which has led to a series of important arrests of Al-Qaeda suspects since mid-July.

The most notable were Pakistani computer expert Naeem Noor Khan and Tanzanian Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani, who has been indicted by a US court for his role in the twin bombing of American embassies in East Africa in 1998.

Information gleaned from the pair led to the arrest of another senior Al-Qaeda leader, Abu Eisa al-Hindi, in Britain as well as the uncovering of a plot to strike United States, Britain and Pakistan.

Last week Pakistani security agencies arrested a senior member of Afghanistan's former Taliban regime, which gave Al-Qaeda sanctuary before the September 11 attacks. He was detained in the central province of Punjab.

A Punjab provincial government official identified the captured man as Mullah Abdul Jalal, who was deputy foreign minister under Taliban rule that was ended by a US-led invasion in late 2001.

More than 70 locals and foreign Al-Qaeda operatives have been detained in the stepped-up crackdown.

It followed a major counter-terrorism operation in Pakistan's rugged tribal territory, along the border with Afghanistan, in March and June.

The army said it had dismantled major hideouts of Al-Qaeda militants in the tribal region of South Waziristan. The continuing operations are said to have killed nearly 150 foreign and local militants.

An unknown number of Al-Qaeda members fled the tribal territory and took refuge in other parts of the country, security officials have said.

Last month the government published photos of six "most wanted terrorists" and offered rewards totalling 1.1 million dollars for information leading to their capture.

They include Egyptian Abu Faraj Farj Al-Libbi, alleged mastermind of two failed attempts on the life of President Pervez Musharraf last December in the garrison city of Rawalpindi near Islamabad.

(China Daily via agencies September 2, 2004)