Guardian : Plot to blow up airlines 'sanctioned by al-Qaida chief'

Plot to blow up airlines 'sanctioned by al-Qaida chief'

Duncan Campbell in Islamabad | Friday August 18, 2006 | The Guardian

A Pakistani security official yesterday claimed that a plot to blow up transatlantic airlines had been sanctioned by Ayman al-Zawahri, the man described as the number two in al-Qaida. The claim came as eight foreign nationals, some of whom have been detained for more than two years as Taliban and al-Qaida suspects, were released in Pakistan protesting their innocence.

"We have reason to believe that it was al-Qaida sanctioned and was probably cleared by al-Zawahri," a senior security official told the Associated Press yesterday. Previously the Pakistani authorities have suggested that a plot had been hatched slightly further down the supposed al-Qaida chain of command.

Rashid Rauf, the Briton detained last week in Bahawalpur, Punjab, was still being held and questioned by Pakistani authorities. They have now been joined by a team of what is believed to be six detectives from the UK.

Another off-the-record security briefing suggested a British Muslim of Afghan origin, an Eritrean national and a Pakistani are also being sought by the Pakistani police.

No official extradition approach regarding Rashid Rauf has yet been made, it is understood. He can be held for a month under Pakistan's security arrangements, a process that can then be repeated for up to a year. He has not yet had access to a lawyer or a consular official.

However, a development in troubled north-western Pakistan and unconnected with the current plot may be seen as having a bearing on the current allegations. A court in Peshawar in the North West Frontier Province, has ordered the release of eight foreigners who have been detained as suspect militants, some of them held from as long ago as February 2004.

Fida Gul, a lawyer for an aid group, the World Prisoners Relief Commission of Pakistan, that has been seeking their release, said two Algerians, two Tunisians, two men from Tajikistan, a Bangladeshi and an Uzbek national are to be freed and sent back to their respective countries.

The men were among hundreds who left Afghanistan in the wake of the defeat of the Taliban in 2001. Many fled to the Pakistan-Afghanistan border area and have been arrested for alleged connections with militant groups or for continuing to work with the Taliban. The eight claimed they had been students or businessmen when they were arrested.