Sheikh Younis al-Mauritani, a senior al-Qaida leader and Osama bin Laden confidant, was arrested in a joint operation by the Pakistan military and the CIA, the Pakistan army said Monday.
Mauritani was arrested with two other al-Qaida operatives — Abdul Ghaffar Al Shami (Bachar Chama) and Messara Al Shami (Mujahid Amino) — in the city of Quetta near the Afghan border, the military said without giving a date.
The trio were caught just before they were to set off for an African destination from which they were to execute attacks on U.S. targets, including strikes on ships and oil tankers, with the help of explosive-laden speedboats in international waters, the newspaper Dawn reported.
