The WaPo's Kamran Khan on Pakistan's arrest of the al Qaeda suspect:

. . . [Ahmed Khalfan] Ghailani, a Tanzanian citizen said to be in his early thirties, was seized early Sunday, along with his wife and five other African or Pakistani al Qaeda suspects, following a joint Pakistani-U.S. intelligence operation, senior Pakistani police and intelligence officials said. The capture followed a 10-hour shootout in the industrial city of Gujrat, 125 miles south of Islamabad . . .

The operation to capture Ghailani, who is on the list of the FBI's 22 most wanted terrorists, was supervised by agents of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency and coordinated with CIA and FBI officials, according to an official in Punjab state who was present . . .

Ghailani was being held at an undisclosed location and would be debriefed "to our satisfaction before handing him over to the U.S. for the trial," Hayat said. Another senior Pakistani official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said U.S. agents had been participating in the interrogation since the arrest and that Ghailani was isolated from the other suspects shortly after his capture . . .

Another senior Pakistani intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Ghailani's capture was a result of the arrest last month of a lesser al Qaeda suspect in Karachi. Electronic intercepts conducted by U.S. technical teams based in Pakistan led them to the Gujrat hideout.

A senior Punjab police officer and an intelligence official, both involved in the operation to nab Ghailani, said in separate interviews that U.S. and Pakistani officials had confirmed his identity shortly after the arrest.

Pakistani officials have rejected allegations that they delayed the announcement for four days to obtain maximum publicity. Hayat said the delay was a result of "double checks and even triple checks in such cases."

But in the arrests of other high-profile al Qaeda targets in Pakistan, including Abu Zubayida, Khalid Sheik Mohammad and Ramzi Bin al Shibh, the news media received word almost immediately.

"What difference will it make if we do not rush to make a hasty unconfirmed claim?" Hayat said. He said he saw no connection between the late announcement of Ghailani's arrest and the Democratic National Convention in the United States, where Sen. John F. Kerry of Massachusetts was about to accept his party's nomination for president.

Hmm. Count me skeptical that there was "no connection" in the timing of the announcement. Khan sounds pretty skeptical himself.

Three important points to note:

1) US officials -- the CIA and FBI -- were in on the intelligence leading to the arrest, and have already been involved in his interrogation.

2) The timing of the announcement of the arrest was highly unusual, compared to previous Pakistani arrests of al Qaeda suspects.

3) And Ghailani is not "low level" at all - he is on the FBI's list of the 22 most wanted people in the world. As CNN notes here, "Ghailani was one of seven alleged terrorists who were highlighted by Attorney General John Ashcroft in a news conference in Washington on May 26. Ashcroft said Ghailani had 'the skill, ability to undertake attacks both against American interests overseas as well in the United States.'"

Update: Check out Howie Kurtz.

Posted by Laura at July 29, 2004 11:40 PM