Pro-Qaeda Site Denies Key Sept 11 Suspect Captured
Sun Sep 15, 8:45 AM ET

DUBAI (Reuters) - An Islamist Web Site sympathetic to Osama bin Laden ( news - web sites) denied Sunday that Pakistan had captured Ramzi Binalshibh, a key al Qaeda member accused of helping to plan the September 11 attacks.



Expanded Business Section!


Check new areas for:
Economy, Earnings, Markets and more...

Business News




The Jehad Online Web Site ( www.jehad.net) said reports of Binalshibh's arrest were part of a U.S. and Pakistani media campaign to demoralize supporters of Osama bin Laden.

"Al-Mujahudeen (Muslim holy warriors) confirm that brother Ramzi Binalshibh has not been arrested but is with them," the Web Site said.

"What happened in the last two days...was a wicked U.S.-Pakistani game aimed at breaking the morale of Muslims and supporters of Jihad (Muslim holy war).

"Through this statement we challenge them to show us brother Ramzi Binalshibh in captivity and we swear by God Almighty they will not be able to do so," it added.

U.S. and Pakistani officials said Friday that Binalshibh, a Yemeni citizen who was a rising star in al Qaeda, was captured in Karachi on the first anniversary of the September attacks.

Pakistani forces, acting on a tip from U.S. intelligence agents, arrested Binalshibh after a three-hour gunbattle in which two al Qaeda suspects were killed and at least six policemen wounded.

Binalshibh's capture came days after the widely-watched Arabic satellite channel al Jazeera broadcast a taped audio interview with him in which he admitted to planning the suicide hijacked plane attacks.

Yosri Fouda, the Jazeera correspondent who conducted the interview, had said he spoke to Binalshibh in Pakistan in June.

Saturday, Fouda took pains to distance himself from the arrest, saying he did not think its timing was a coincidence.

"He (Binalshibh) was arrested a few days ago, so why do they wait until the program is out and then announce the arrest? Somebody might be trying to tie us into this to compromise Jazeera," he told Reuters from the station's headquarters in Qatar.

But Jehad Online said Fouda had never interviewed Binalshibh face-to-face. "We challenge him to prove this direct dialogue with the brothers because they themselves denied this matter to us," said the Web Site.

Binalshibh and another key al Qaeda member reportedly affirmed that bin Laden was personally involved in planning the September 11 attacks that killed more 3,000 people.

U.S. officials have said the Yemeni national, who was refused a visa into the United States at least four times before September 11, 2001, wanted to join the 19 hijackers involved in last years attack.