German member of Al Qaeda captured in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD - Intelligence officials said Tuesday that a German national arrested in Pakistan while leaving the restive tribal region was associated with the Al Qaeda terrorist organisation.

Police arrested the man Tuesday after receiving a tip in the northwestern district of Bannu. The suspect was was disguised as a burqa-clad woman and travelling in a car with two Pakistanis, an intelligence source said.

The three men were said to be trying to leave North Waziristan, a stronghold of Taliban and Al Qaeda.

“Initial investigations showed that the man was associated with Al Qaeda,” a Pakistani intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.

The 30-year-old suspect was taken by helicopter to Peshawar, the capital of the northwestern province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. A team from various intelligence agencies was questioning him, the official said.

“He had participated in some raids against coalition forces in Afghanistan and used to travel between Afghanistan and the Pakistani tribal region time to time,” he said.

“The investigators are questioning him while keeping all

possibilities in mind.”

Authorities refused to release the suspect’s name, saying that could obstruct their investigation.

Officials from the German embassy in Pakistan were unavailable for comment.

The two tribesmen arrested with the German were residents of Mir Ali, a main city in North Waziristan, where other German citizens are also believed to be residing.

The German intelligence agency, the Federal Office for the Protection of Constitution, said in its annual report that dozens of Germans or foreigners living in Germany had travelled to Pakistan for paramilitary training by militant groups in recent years.