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CNN Sunday Morning
Khalid Shaikh Mohammed Arrested Yesterday in Pakistan
Aired March 02, 2003 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We return now to our top story. A big arrest may put the U.S. in a better position to get some clues on terror plots that may be planned for the future, as well as the location of Osama bin Laden. The suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and al Qaeda's number three man is in U.S. custody this morning, after being arrested yesterday near Islamabad, Pakistan. CNN's Ash-Har Quraishi joins, by videophone, from Islamabad with the latest -- Ash-Har.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.
According to government officials here in Pakistan, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was transported out of the country late last night. He was arrested, as you mentioned, in a raid, in the city of Rawalpindi, which is just about nine miles south of the capitol Islamabad, in a joint raid led by U.S. officials, U.S. agents and Pakistani security forces.
Now, late last night, Pakistan's information minister talked about the arrests and talked abut the raid itself. Let's take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEIKH RASHID AHMED, PAKISTANI INFORMATION MIN.: Yeah, of course, our local agencies involved in this early in the morning, they raided his house. And we catch him, the intelligences caught him. And there was no single fire, no fight, and that was easily -- you know, this all, action completed in a very smoothly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QURAISHI: Now, as the information minister there mentioned, it was a smooth raid. There have been a series of raids in Pakistan. Pakistan has handed over 400 suspected al Qaeda and fleeing Taliban to the United States over the past year. And they say this was a very smooth operation.
Now, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has escaped capture at least twice. What we've been able to ascertain from officials here in Pakistan, is that in a raid over a week ago in Quetta, they were hoping to capture him, he escaped. But they did captured one top al Qaeda operative who was able to give them some clues leading them the city of Rawalpindi, where he was captured early in the morning on Saturday.
He escaped also in a raid that that occurred on September 11 of 2002 in Karachi. In that raid, another top al Qaeda operative, Ramzi Binalshibh, was caught. Right now, officials here in Pakistan and in the United States are calling this a victory, the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Ash-Har Quraishi live in Islamabad, thanks for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired March 2, 2003 - 09:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN ANCHOR: We return now to our top story. A big arrest may put the U.S. in a better position to get some clues on terror plots that may be planned for the future, as well as the location of Osama bin Laden. The suspected mastermind behind the September 11 attacks and al Qaeda's number three man is in U.S. custody this morning, after being arrested yesterday near Islamabad, Pakistan. CNN's Ash-Har Quraishi joins, by videophone, from Islamabad with the latest -- Ash-Har.
ASH-HAR QURAISHI, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Anderson.
According to government officials here in Pakistan, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed was transported out of the country late last night. He was arrested, as you mentioned, in a raid, in the city of Rawalpindi, which is just about nine miles south of the capitol Islamabad, in a joint raid led by U.S. officials, U.S. agents and Pakistani security forces.
Now, late last night, Pakistan's information minister talked about the arrests and talked abut the raid itself. Let's take a look at this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SHEIKH RASHID AHMED, PAKISTANI INFORMATION MIN.: Yeah, of course, our local agencies involved in this early in the morning, they raided his house. And we catch him, the intelligences caught him. And there was no single fire, no fight, and that was easily -- you know, this all, action completed in a very smoothly.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
QURAISHI: Now, as the information minister there mentioned, it was a smooth raid. There have been a series of raids in Pakistan. Pakistan has handed over 400 suspected al Qaeda and fleeing Taliban to the United States over the past year. And they say this was a very smooth operation.
Now, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed has escaped capture at least twice. What we've been able to ascertain from officials here in Pakistan, is that in a raid over a week ago in Quetta, they were hoping to capture him, he escaped. But they did captured one top al Qaeda operative who was able to give them some clues leading them the city of Rawalpindi, where he was captured early in the morning on Saturday.
He escaped also in a raid that that occurred on September 11 of 2002 in Karachi. In that raid, another top al Qaeda operative, Ramzi Binalshibh, was caught. Right now, officials here in Pakistan and in the United States are calling this a victory, the arrest of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks -- Anderson.
COOPER: All right. Ash-Har Quraishi live in Islamabad, thanks for that report.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
