Top Member of Hamburg Terror Cell Arrested

Pakistani police arrested one of the most wanted men in the worldwide hunt for al Qaeda terrorists in a violent shootout in Karachi last week, the country's interior minister said Saturday.

Ramzi Binalshibh, a citizen of Yemen, was wanted by German and American investigators for his involvement in planning the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States. Binalshibh was a leading member of Mohammed Atta's group of Hamburg terrorists.

Both the US intelligence agency CIA and the FBI aided in the arrest, which was carried out on the one-year anniversary of the attacks, Reuters reported. The American agents apparently overheard a satellite phone conversation that pinpointed Binalshibh's position, a security official told Reuters.

When police moved in, a violent shootout broke out. Two suspected al Qaeda members died and six police officers and a 4-year-old girl were injured. Seven other suspected al Qaeda members were arrested. Police found a laptop, a satellite phone and CDs containing speeches by Osama bin Laden in the apartment.

Suspect wanted to be the 20th hijacker, say investigators

The arrest of Binalshibh, 30, is considered a major step in the hunt for al Qaeda terrorists. US investigators believe he intended to join the 19 hijackers who carried out the attacks, but was refused a Visa to the United States at least four times.

He left Germany on Sept. 5, 2001. On Sept. 20, German Federal Prosecutor Kay Nehm issued an arrest warrant for Binalshibh, charging him with membership in a terrorist organization.

German interior minister Otto Schily, meeting with other EU interior ministers and US Attorney General John Ashcroft in Copenhagen on Saturday, said Nehm's charges would make it possible to bring Binalshibh before a German judge.

"We have issued an arrest warrant that we also want to pursue ... we have an interest in bringing him back to Germany of course," Schily told reporters outside of the meetings. "But if there are other interests with a similar purpose, then we have to come to an agreement."

No one has commented on what is to be done with the suspect. Pakistani police said on Saturday that they were questioning him and the other suspects. The United States, which also has Binalshibh on their most wanted list, will most likely ask for his extradition.

The arrest came just days after an interview with Binalshibh aired on the Arab 24-hour news channel Al Jazira. The top terrorist, with whom the journalist met in June, talked about the planning that went into the Sept. 11 attacks and the coordination with Al Qaeda central command in Afghanistan.

Binalshibh said that he flew to Pakistan and then went to Afghanistan to watch the attacks' outcome together with bin Laden.

"We watched it live on television," he said. "and we prayed: hit, hit, hit."