A senior al-Qaeda leader believed to have been responsible for planning attacks on the US, Europe and Australia has been arrested in southwest Pakistan, the army announced on Monday.
Younis al-Mauritani was picked up in the suburbs of the southwestern city of Quetta along with two other high-ranking operatives for the global terror network, the military said in a statement. Cooperation between the CIA and Inter-Services Intelligence agency led to the arrests by the paramilitary, it said, without saying when Mauritani was detained.
“In an intelligence-driven operation by Inter-Services Intelligence in coordination with Frontier Corps Balochistan, a senior al-Qaeda leader, Younis al-Mauritani, mainly responsible for planning and conduct of international operations, was nabbed,” the statement said. “Al-Mauritani was tasked personally by Osama bin Laden to focus on hitting targets of economical importance in United States of America, Europe and Australia,” the army said.