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Pakistan Claims Arrest Of Senior Al-Qaida Operative

Pakistan says its intelligence agency has arrested Muhammed Ali Qasim Yaqub, a senior al-Qaida official. The statement says he's from Yemen and has been working closely with al-Qaida militants along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

His alias is reported to be Abu Sohaib al Makki and the BBC reports an individual with that name was once listed by a jihadist website as leader of a group of Arab Afghans in Afghanistan.

NPR's Julie McCarthy tells NPR Newscasts terror experts she consulted in Pakistan had not heard of al Makki.

AP notes Pakistan has faced pressure after the death of Osama bin Laden, after the U.S. located and raided his compound in a Pakistani army town. Pakistani officials deny they knew bin Laden's whereabouts.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Korva Coleman is a newscaster for NPR.
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