Intelligence agencies arrested Al-Qaeda commander Abu-Yahya in Karachi

[SummerWine]

Officers: Pakistan arrests American-born al-Qaida - Yahoo! News

Officers: Pakistan arrests American-born al-Qaida



KARACHI, Pakistan – The American-born spokesman for al-Qaida has been arrested by Pakistani intelligence officers in the southern city of Karachi, two officers and a government official said Sunday, the same day Adam Gadahn appeared in a video urging U.S. Muslims to attack their own country.

The arrest of Gadahn is a major victory in the U.S.-led battle against al-Qaida and will be taken as a sign that Pakistan is cooperating more fully with Washington. It follows the recent detentions of several Afghan Taliban commanders in Karachi.

Gadahn — who has often appeared in al-Qaida videos — was arrested in the sprawling southern metropolis in recent days, two officers who took part in the operation said. A senior government official also confirmed the arrest.

They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to release the information.

Gadahn grew up on a goat farm in Riverside County, California, and converted to Islam at a mosque in nearby Orange County.

He moved to Pakistan in 1998, according to the FBI, and is said to have attended an al-Qaida training camp six years later, serving as a translator and consultant for the group. He has been wanted by the FBI since 2004, and there is a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

The 31-year-old is known by various aliases including Yahya Majadin Adams and Azzam al-Amriki.

He has posted videos and messages calling for the destruction of the West and for strikes against targets in the United States. The most recent was posted Sunday, praising the U.S. Army major charged with killing 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, as a role model for other Muslims.

A U.S. court charged Gadahn with treason in 2006, making him the first American to face such a charge in more than 50 years. He could face the death penalty if convicted. He was also charged with two counts of providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Gadahn has appeared in more than half a dozen al-Qaida videos. The video released Sunday appeared to have been made after the end of the year, but it was unclear exactly when.

Dawud Walid, the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Southfield, Mich., condemned Gadahn's call for violence, calling it a "desperate" attempt by Al-Qaida's spokesman to provoke bloodshed within the U.S.

Walid, a Navy veteran, said Muslims have honorably served in the American military will be unimpressed by al-Qaida's message aimed at their ranks.

"We thoroughly repudiate and condemn his statement and what we believe are his failed attempts to incite loyal American Muslims in the miltary," he said.

Imad Hamad, the senior national adviser for the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, based in Dearbon, Mich., condemned al-Qaida's message and said it would have no impact on American Muslims.

"This a worthless rhetoric that is not going to have any effect on people's and minds and hearts," he said.

Al-Qaida has used Gadahn as its chief English-speaking spokesman, and he has called for the destruction of the West and for strikes against targets in the United States. In one video, he ceremoniously tore up his American passport. In another, he admitted his grandfather was Jewish, ridiculing him for his beliefs and calling for Palestinians to continue fighting Israel.

 

[Slides]

A lot of this is due to successful PA ops in FATA, as well as drone strikes that have forced AQ/Taliban to hide out in other areas of the country.

This makes it easier for them to be captured, but also opens up our settled areas for attack. However, the terrorists will only deplete their resources if they try to fight it out in our cities, as they don't have nearly a large enough support base to fall back on.

One of the biggest intelligence assets have been Pushtuns in Karachi for instance.

 

[Cheetah786]

Adam Gadahn, an American spokesman for al Qaeda, has been arrested in Pakistan, a senior Pakistani government official source told CNN.

The official said Gadahn was arrested Sunday in Karachi.

Several U.S. officials told CNN that they have no indication that Gadahn has been captured.

News of the arrest came hours after Islamist Web sites posted video of Gadahn praising a November shooting rampage at the U.S. Army base in Fort Hood, Texas. On the video, Gadahn said the Army major charged with gunning down 13 people "lit a path" for other Muslim service members to follow.

Gadahn has routinely posted lengthy videos on Islamist online forums.

In 2006, he was indicted on charges of treason and providing material support to terrorists. The U.S. government has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Gadahn grew up on a California farm, and was home-schooled until age 17. A year later he moved in with his paternal grandparents, who were secular Jews. He converted to Islam at the Islamic Society of Orange County, California, but was banned from the mosque two years later after hitting its chairman, Haitham Bundjaki.

I know Most will disagrees with me but i am Convinced there is lot more Jews in this organization pretending yes i said pretending to be Muslim to make Lunatics attack and make Muslims look Bad.

 

[SMC]

Gadahn was a muslim/Islam-hater and bashed muslims/Islam and had violent history against muslims. People like that don't just convert and become radicals. He's clearly a CIA agent for CIA's propaganda war.

 

[SparklingCrescent]

we need to give him Pakistani beatings and get watever info he hass....

a jew becoming a muslim extremist??? zama da qwana...

 

[Thomas]

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/03/07/pakistan.alqaeda.american/index.html?hpt=T1

(CNN) -- Adam Gadahn, a U.S.-born spokesman for al Qaeda, has been arrested in Pakistan, a senior Pakistani government official told CNN.

The official said Gadahn, 31, was arrested Sunday in Karachi.

Several U.S. officials told CNN that they have no indication that Gadahn has been captured.

News of the arrest came hours after Islamist Web sites posted video of Gadahn praising a November shooting rampage at a U.S. Army base in Fort Hood, Texas. On the video, Gadahn said the Army major charged with gunning down 13 people "lit a path" for other Muslim service members to follow.

Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American, has routinely posted lengthy videos on Islamist online forums.

In 2006, he was indicted on charges of treason and providing material support to terrorists. The U.S. government has offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his capture.

Authorities have targeted several key Islamist figures in Karachi, the populous port city and financial capital of Pakistan. For some time, it has functioned as a hideout for Taliban and al Qaeda sympathizers.

One of the figures, top Taliban leader Agha Jan Motasim, was arrested on Friday. Motasim's capture came on the heels of the arrest of the Taliban's No. 2 figure and overall military commander, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.

Last month, Taliban and government sources confirmed that Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud had died. A government official told CNN Mehsud died as a result of a January 14 unmanned drone attack in North Waziristan; other sources said Mehsud died near the city of Multan in central Pakistan while on his way to a treatment center in Karachi.

A city of 13 million -- with some estimates of 100,000 new arrivals a month -- Karachi as seen an influx of Pashtuns from the tribal border region with Afghanistan. Many fled there during fighting and offensives in the Northwest Frontier Province and Waziristan, making it a comfortable place for the Taliban to blend in and count on a network of supporters.

"I think its become apparent ... that al Qaeda doesn't really have a base of sanctuary inside Afghanistan, at least not one where its leaders feel safe," CNN's Senior International Correspondent Nic Robertson said. "They've taken to hiding inside Pakistan."

Gadahn's reported presence in Karachi "is an indication of how easily it is for al Qaeda sympathizers and Taliban sympathizers to hide in that city," Robertson said.

Gadahn grew up on a California farm and was home-schooled until 17. A year later he moved in with his paternal grandparents, who were secular Jews. He converted to Islam at the Islamic Society of Orange County, California, but was banned from the mosque two years later after hitting its chairman, Haitham Bundjaki.

In 1997 Gadahn began working for a California charity suspected of having ties to al Qaeda. He moved to Pakistan in 1998.

His family has said they last heard from him in 2002. In 2004, the FBI identified him as part of an al Qaeda cell that was planning attacks aimed at disrupting that year's presidential election in the United States.

In October 2004, he began appearing in disguise in al Qaeda videos. Gadahn dropped the disguise in 2006.

In 2008, he renounced his U.S. citizenship and destroyed his passport in another al Qaeda video.

In his video message posted online Sunday, Gadahn says Muslims should emulate the alleged Fort Hood shooter.

"I believe that defiant Brother Nidal is the ideal role model for every repentant Muslim in the armies of the unbelievers and apostate regimes," Adam Gadahn says in English in the video.

Maj. Nidal Hasan, an Army psychiatrist and a U.S.-born citizen, is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder in the November 5 killings. Hasan is also facing 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder and is eligible for the death penalty.

"The Mujahid brother Nidal Hasan is a pioneer, a trailblazer and a role model who has opened a door, lit a path and shown the way forward for every Muslim who finds himself among the unbelievers and yearns to discharge his duty to Allah and play a part in the defense of Islam and Muslims," Gadahn says in the video.

Gadahn also cites in Sunday's video the U.S. and allied buildup in Afghanistan, where the United States is in the process of adding about 30,000 troops.

"It is rapidly becoming clear that this already-hot global battle is about to get even hotter," he says. "This is a war which knows no international borders and no single battleground, and that's why I am calling on every honest and vigilant Muslim in the countries of the Zionist-Crusader alliance in general and America, Britain and Israel in particular to prepare to play his due role in responding to and repelling the aggression of the enemies of Islam."

In December, Gadahn released a video message in English offering condolences to "unintended Muslim victims" killed in attacks in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere. It was a rare example of al Qaeda offering condolences to the families of those killed in the group's own attacks.

 

[Thomas]

Yet another Karachi arrest

 

[Evil Flare]

Yet another Karachi arrest

Karachi is a enormous Big City with above 20 Million Population .
Its Naturally that these thugs hide here .

 

[Vassnti]

congratulations yet again, one man i would not have minded the headline killed resisting arest.

 

[FreekiN]

I don't know what to say.

Great job though, Pakistan

 

[sparklingway]

Yeh cheez !

 

[sur]

I see it differently...

These ppl r being transported into Karachi on purpose & then being tipped off to agencies..... It's to prove that Taliban have reached Karachi....

This point was made by Obama in Berlin speech & later by MQM's Altaf Hussain immediately after Obama's speech... Then we had Mumbai Drama where again Karachi was alleged even though the numbers on satellite phone caught were going to Jalalabad... Then recently after blast at shia procession, I heard at least 2 of MQM's spokesmen repeated that Karachi has been infiltered by taliban who r disguised as shaved, without beards...

These so-called leaders r nothing but patsies who on their own neither have resources nor technical base to carryout what they do... Those who r supporting these can bring forth more of these... So NO harm done in getting some of them caught...


Now this "Adam Gadahn" is a crypto-jew... A fake al-qaidah... He'll be handed over to US, back & safe to where he belonged... All u'll see after would be drama like his prosecution and/or conviction...

 

[Iron_Eagle_17]

I think there is still much more to come as when this big fish will take us to other alligators.
I am waiting for that.

 

[Hammy007]

why nowadays the story of terrorism begins and ends in pakistan???

 

[Thomas]

We will see if this arrest turns out to be true. whats interesting is this time it's Pakistani officials saying it is true. And U.S. officials saying that they can't confirm it. If it is true they probably wanted to keep his arrest quiet for a bit longer.