Musharraf hints bin Laden, al-Zawahari in Pakistani mountains
(Kyodo) _ President Pervez Musharraf strongly hinted Friday that al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden and his Egyptian-born top deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri are hiding in "mountains in Pakistan."
Musharraf told a packed press conference that the U.S. interrogation of senior al-Qaida member Abu Farraj al-Libbi had revealed that the terrorist network's command and communication center has been destroyed by Pakistan's military campaign in South Waziristan.
Al-Qaida is now using couriers to relay messages, the president said.
"They are using the courier network. The last man that we got Abu Farraj al-Libbi, we got him through their courier man," Musharraf said in his opening statement.
Al-Libbi, a Libyan who is regarded as third in al-Qaida's hierarchy after bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, was arrested in May in a hideout in the Northwest Frontier Province.
Although al-Libbi is accused of two assassination attempts on Musharraf in December 2003, he was handed over to the United States for further questioning.
"Their (al-Qaida) command and communication system stands broken. Their No. 3 man was taking months to get messages up and down," Musharraf said.
The president said al-Qaida is no longer operating as an organization. Those who are claiming responsibility for or carrying out terrorist attacks have not been in communication with the terrorist network's high command, he said.
"Their communication linkages are not there," Musharraf said of the al-Qaida network.
During the two-hour press conference, Musharraf spoke at length about the Pakistani armed force's successful operations against al-Qaida hideouts in the South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
He disclosed that the Pakistan army recovered two truckloads of computers, television sets and disk tapes from a tunnel in one of the sanctuaries in South Waziristan.
"We have broken the vertical and the horizontal command and communication link of al-Qaida, which means that they have ceased to work as a homogenized organization,' he said.
Musharraf told a packed press conference that the U.S. interrogation of senior al-Qaida member Abu Farraj al-Libbi had revealed that the terrorist network's command and communication center has been destroyed by Pakistan's military campaign in South Waziristan.
Al-Qaida is now using couriers to relay messages, the president said.
"They are using the courier network. The last man that we got Abu Farraj al-Libbi, we got him through their courier man," Musharraf said in his opening statement.
Al-Libbi, a Libyan who is regarded as third in al-Qaida's hierarchy after bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, was arrested in May in a hideout in the Northwest Frontier Province.
Although al-Libbi is accused of two assassination attempts on Musharraf in December 2003, he was handed over to the United States for further questioning.
"Their (al-Qaida) command and communication system stands broken. Their No. 3 man was taking months to get messages up and down," Musharraf said.
The president said al-Qaida is no longer operating as an organization. Those who are claiming responsibility for or carrying out terrorist attacks have not been in communication with the terrorist network's high command, he said.
"Their communication linkages are not there," Musharraf said of the al-Qaida network.
During the two-hour press conference, Musharraf spoke at length about the Pakistani armed force's successful operations against al-Qaida hideouts in the South Waziristan tribal area bordering Afghanistan.
He disclosed that the Pakistan army recovered two truckloads of computers, television sets and disk tapes from a tunnel in one of the sanctuaries in South Waziristan.
"We have broken the vertical and the horizontal command and communication link of al-Qaida, which means that they have ceased to work as a homogenized organization,' he said.