Pakistan Times : Rashid Rauf reveals 'vital Clues': Sherpao

Rashid Rauf reveals 'vital Clues': Sherpao

Pakistan Times Monitoring Desk | August 26, 2006

PESHAWAR: Federal Interior Minister Aftab Ahmed Khan Sherpao has said a key suspect Rashid Rauf being held in Pakistan in connection with the alleged plot to blow up trans-Atlantic flights from the UK has given interrogators vital clues, a foreign news agency reported on Saturday.

Rashid Rauf, a British Muslim of Pakistani origin who was caught in Pakistan on August 9, has been described as a “key person”, says he had contacts with an Afghanistan-based al-Qaida leader.

Two Pakistani security officials claim he masterminded the plot after getting the nod from al Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al Zawahri.

Today, interior minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said Rauf had “wider international links” and was in touch with an al-Qaida leader.

Pakistan is a key ally of the US and Britain in the war on terror.

British authorities arrested about two dozen suspects in connection with the plot from its information.