Al-Qaida\'s No. 3 leader, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, arrested in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) - Authorities arrested al-Qaida\'s No. 3 commander _ a close associate of Osama bin Laden with a US$10 million (?7.7 million) bounty on his head _ and said Wednesday they were "on the right track" to catch bin Laden himself.Al-Libbi, a Libyan who authorities believe masterminded two attempts to assassinate President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was nabbed Monday after a fierce gunbattle with Pakistani commandos on the outskirts of Mardan, 50 kilometers (30 miles) northeast of Peshawar, capital of the deeply conservative North West Frontier Province.A U.S. counterterrorism official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press al-Libbi was the most senior operational commander in al-Qaida _ behind only bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri _ and believed responsible for planning attacks abroad, including on the United States."This is a very important day for us," Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed told AP, adding that security agents have already gleaned a lot of information from the arrest and are confident they are on bin Laden\'s trail."This arrest gives us a lot of tips, and I can only say that our security agencies are on the right track" in the hunt for al-Qaida\'s No. 1, Ahmed said. "This man knew many people and many hide-outs."A government-released photo taken after al-Libbi\'s arrest shows a disheveled, bearded man with sunken eyes and an apparent a skin condition. In an earlier Pakistani "Most Wanted" poster photo, al-Libbi looked healthy and was dressed in a Western-style suit and tie.Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said the U.S. government was offering a US$10 million (?7.7 million) bounty for information leading to al-Libbi\'s arrest, though he does not appear to be on an FBI list of most wanted terrorists.In Washington, an FBI spokesman said the bureau had yet to confirm the arrest.The U.S. counterterrorism official said the relationship between al-Libbi and bin Laden predates the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, and al-Qaida\'s inception in the 1990s.The official called the arrest the most significant blow to al-Qaida since former No. 3, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, was captured in 2003."Their leadership and support network is fraying," said the official, who called al-Libbi\'s capture "another chapter in the degradation of their network."The official said the Pakistanis used traditional human spying methods to capture al-Libbi.Three Pakistani intelligence officials told AP on condition of anonymity that al-Libbi was one of two foreigners arrested Monday after the Mardan firefight. Ahmed, the information minister, said the second man\'s identity was not known, but that authorities were investigating.One of the intelligence officials said 11 more terror suspects _ three Uzbeks, an Afghan and seven Pakistanis _ were arrested Wednesday in a tribal region. The official would not say why the raid was launched, or whether it was linked to al-Libbi\'s capture.The intelligence officials said authorities were led to al-Libbi\'s hide-out by a tip-off that foreigners had been seen nearby. They said the suspect was held overnight at a military facility in Mardan, then flown by helicopter to the capital, Islamabad.Al-Libbi reportedly spent time in South Waziristan, a tribal region along the Afghan border that is considered a likely hide-out for bin Laden and al-Qaida\'s No. 2, al-Zawahri.He fled following military operations in the area last year. Authorities had said privately in recent weeks that they felt they were zeroing in on him.Al-Libbi allegedly became al-Qaida\'s operational chief in Pakistan after the March 1, 2003, arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed _ the purported mastermind of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks _ who was later handed over to U.S. custody. His whereabouts are unknown.Sherpao said it was too early to comment on whether al-Libbi might be turned over to the U.S., but stressed there were important cases pending against him in Pakistan.Musharraf, a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terrorism, named the Libyan as the chief suspect in two December 2003 bombings against him, including one that killed 17 people. He was among six suspects identified as Pakistan\'s "Most Wanted Terrorists" in a poster campaign last year.The other suspects are all Pakistanis linked to Lashkar-e-Jhangvi, a Sunni Muslim militant group believed tied to al-Qaida. One of the suspects, Amjad Hussain Farooqi, was killed in a shootout with security forces in southern Pakistan in September.Farooqi, a senior Lashkar-e-Jhangvi member, was accused of plotting the bombings against Musharraf with al-Libbi, and of involvement in the kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi in 2002.Pakistan has arrested hundreds of terror suspects since Musharraf ended the country\'s support for the Taliban regime in neighboring Afghanistan after the Sept. 11 attacks on America, and waged bloody operations against al-Qaida-linked militants along the Afghan border.It has turned over to the U.S. about 700 al-Qaida suspects, including Mohammed, Sept. 11 planner Ramzi Binalshibh and al-Qaida senior operative Abu Zubaydah.___AP correspondents Matthew Pennington, Munir Ahmad and Riaz Khan contributed to this report.