Map of the Kandahar-Chaman-Quetta region. Click to view larger map
Earlier this week, Geo News reported that two al Qaeda operatives were detained in Karachi:
The law enforcement agencies have arrested two important Al Qaeda figures from Karachi’s Sohrab Goth area and shifted them to Islamabad for investigation, Geo News reported Tuesday.
Umar Misri, and Mohammad Mohammad were arrested from a hideout on Super Highway. A satellite phone and a laptop were also recovered from them.
According to sources, both of them entered Pakistan via Chaman border.
Unfortunately there hasn’t been any more information on these arrests. Here are a few quick observations based on the report:
- The Sohrab Goth area of Karachi is a known haunt for the Movement of the Taliban in Pakistan as well as al Qaeda. In March, when the rumors that American traitor Adam Gadahn (Abu Azzam al Amriki) was detained in Karachi were raging, he was said to have been captured in Sohrab Goth.
- Chaman serves as a command and control center for the Afghan Taliban. Senior Taliban leaders Mullah Rahmatullah, Abdul Qayoum Zakir, Mullah Naim Barich, and Akhtar Mohammed Mansour have been publicly named by the US military as directing Afghan operations from Pakistan. Zakir is close to al Qaeda, and directs operations from Chaman.
- Two main al Qaeda-linked groups operate in Karachi: the Pakistani branch of Jundallah, and Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.
- Based on his last name, Umar Misri (or Masri) appears to be an Egyptian.
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3 Comments
Interesting that they were carrying a satellite phone. That’s a very risky piece of hardware to use with the NSA listening in for both ends of the link (it uses GPS to give the phones location for each call).
Catch and release, that’s the Pakistani way.
The man Umar Mirsi sounds like the Egyptian Midhat al-Mirsi, the guy that gassed dogs at the AQ training camps in Khost This would make the third time he has been captured or killed; the first time was supposedly Jan 13 2006 in Damadola, when they targeted Zawahiri. I’m working on the other. Hey Bill, why has there been no talk of al-Quso’s killing in Pakistan? A Yemeni AQ in Pakistan. Hmm. Him and Saeed al-Sheri? This to me was a pretty big deal yet hardly any coverage. Hmm.