The suspected mastermind of the September 11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, is in US custody following what US officials hailed as the biggest catch so far in the so-called global war on terror.
Pakistani officials said Mohammed, branded by Washington as one of al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden's "most senior and significant lieutenants", was arrested by Pakistani agents at a house in the city of Rawalpindi before dawn yesterday.
A Pakistani official said Mohammed was handed over to US custody and taken to an undisclosed location within hours of his arrest.
The White House said Mohammed, one of three al Qaeda suspects detained in the early morning swoop, was "a key al Qaeda planner and the mastermind of the September 11 attacks". Officials said the others were a Pakistani and a foreign national of Arab origin.
An intelligence source described the third man as an Egyptian national, but gave no other details. However, the family of the arrested Pakistani, Ahmed Quddus, said he was the only person detained in a raid by 20 to 25 security men armed with Kalashnikov rifles on their home in Westridge, a middle-class area of Rawalpindi at 3.30 a.m. on Saturday.
Some analysts questioned whether Khalid Sheikh Mohammed had actually been arrested on Saturday and speculated he may have been held for some time and the news made public when it was in the interests of the United States and Pakistan.
Analysts describe Mohammed, a Kuwaiti in his late 30s, as a pivotal figure in al Qaeda who vetted all its recruits and who may know the whereabouts of both bin Laden and Mullah Mohammed Omar, fugitive leader of Afghanistan's former Taliban government.
Rashid Qureshi, spokesman for Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, called the arrest a major achievement for Pakistan's security services. The United States, under criticism for failing to arrest the top leaders of al Qaeda while focusing on a possible war on Iraq, was jubilant and claimed joint credit.