Al-Qaida 'Attack Planner' Captured by Security Forces
An al-Qaida “Pakistan-based attack planner” has been arrested in Afghanistan according to media reports June 2, 2011.
The man is being described as a former associate of Osama bin Laden, and was suspected to have been with the al-Qaida leader in 2001, although the International Security Assistance Force is declining to publicly identify him.
Two of the attack planner’s “associates” were also arrested in the raid that took place on Wednesday in the province of Balkh, according to ISAF.
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America’s “War on Terror” took a drastic turn last month when President Barack Obama announced to the world that U.S. forces had killed bin Laden during a raid on his hideout in Abbottabad, Pakistan.
"The death of bin Laden marks the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al-Qaida," Obama said.
It's been 10 years now since al-Qaida carried out what Obama called the worst attack on the American people in U.S. history. Nearly 3,000 people were killed when four planes were hijacked, with two of them crashing into the Twin Towers in New York City and another into The Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on Sept. 11.
Wednesday’s arrests are the latest advancements in the continued progress made by American and allied security forces since bin Laden’s death. It follows a similar arrest a day earlier in the same region when a suspected al Qaida-linked militant was captured. That person is believed to be responsible for last week's suicide attack at a provincial governor's office, according to ISAF.
CNN has reported that the “attack planner” arrested Wednesday was captured after he was tracked to a compound in Nahr-e Shahi.
