Bush hails capture of prime suspect

President George Bush yesterday hailed the capture of a leading al-Qa'ida suspect, Ramzi Binalshibh, calling him "one of the planners and organisers of the September 11 attack that murdered thousands of people".

Mr Binalshibh was being questioned at a secure location by American and Pakistani investigators after a series of raids in Karachi which netted 12 foreign suspects. Among them was a second high-level al-Qa'ida suspect, according to the Pakistani government.

He was not identified, but one of the prime targets of the US is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, a Kuwaiti who allegedly masterminded the September 2001 attacks. He and Mr Binalshibh were interviewed in Pakistan by al-Jazeera TV about three months ago.

"One by one, we're hunting the killers down," Mr Bush said yesterday. "We are relentless, we are strong, and we're not going to stop."

The raids began on Monday, and culminated in Mr Binalshibh's capture on Wednesday, the first annniversary of the 11 September attacks, after a three-hour gun battle in which two al-Qa'ida suspects were killed and six policemen and a four-year-old girl were wounded. The Pakistani police were acting on a tip-off from the US, which intercepted a satellite phone call in Karachi. A satphone intercept in Pakistan is also thought to have led to the arrest in March of Abu Zubeida, the highest member of the al-Qa'ida leadership in custody.

A senior army officer told Associated Press he visited the interrogation centre where the captives were being held and saw two prisoners whom he did not identify. They were undergoing interrogation while blindfolded and seated with their hands shackled to the arms of their chairs.

One of the prisoners was "very tough", said the officer, and answered probing questions only with the words: "My name is Abdullah." Two officials were in the room, while three others watched from behind one-way mirrors.

A tug of war may break out over Mr Binalshibh, with the German interior minister, Otto Schily, saying yesterday he would seek the Yemeni's extradition to Germany, where he shared a room with Muhammed Atta, the leader of the hijackers. The Pakistani authorities scotched rumours that he had been sent immediately to the US, saying FBI investigators were taking part in his interrogation.

Yesterday the FBI said five American-born men of Yemeni origin who were arrested on Friday in Buffalo, New York state, received weapons training at an al-Qa'ida camp visited by Osama bin Laden last year. They have been charged with providing material support to terrorists, an offence carrying a maximum penalty of 15 years.