You’re next, Raisin Stain.
(LWJ) — A “senior al Qaeda commander” recently captured by Pakistani security officials served as a courier between slain al Qaeda leader Osama bin laden and his deputy, Ayman al Zawahiri.
Yesterday, the Pakistani military, via its Inter-Service Public Relations directorate, took the unusual step of announcing the capture of Muhammad Ali Qasim Yaqub, a Yemeni citizen whois also known as Abu Sohaib Al Makki, during a raid in the southern port city of Karachi.
The Pakistani military provided little detail on Yacub. He was described as both a “senior al Qaeda operative” and a “senior al Qaeda commander” who was “working directly under al Qaeda leaders along Pak-Afghan borders.”
“The arrest of Al Makki [Yacub] is a major development in unraveling the al Qaeda Network operating in the region,” the brief ISPR statement concluded.
Unnamed Pakistani military officials later told BBC Yacub was arrested on May 4, just two days after Osama bin Laden was killed during a raid in Abbottabad.
Yacub was described as a mid-level al Qaeda operative and a “key courier” that facilitated communications between bin Laden and Zawahiri.
“Fluent in Pashtu and Urdu, he was allegedly one of the main couriers between bin Laden and Zawahiri, and helped al Qaeda leaders travel between Afghanistan and Pakistan,” the BBC reported. “He is also said to have been an important recruiter, which led to him traveling abroad frequently.” He also was an “explosives expert, according to Dawn.