U.S. Officials Hope Detainee Is Key Suspect

U.S. officials scrambled Sunday for conclusive evidence that they have captured one of Osama bin Laden’s top commanders, and began the process of interrogating the man for information about Al Qaeda terrorist plots that may already be underway.

If the suspect shot and wounded during a raid in Pakistan on Thursday is indeed the shadowy military commander known as Abu Zubeida, authorities have in their custody the man apparently entrusted with overseeing Al Qaeda’s global network of terror cells for the higher-profile Bin Laden.

Zubeida would be, by far, the most senior Bin Laden associate captured since President Bush declared war on international terrorism following the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.

U.S. authorities believe that Zubeida, whose real name is thought to be Zain al-Abidin Mohammed Husain, may have helped plan the Sept. 11 attacks. They also have information indicating that he played a role in the so-called millennium plots to bomb Los Angeles International Airport and tourist sites in Jordan, as well as in other major Al Qaeda terrorist attacks of recent years. He has been tried in absentia in Jordan, and sentenced to death, for his role in the plot there.

Zubeida’s capture would be a devastating blow to Al Qaeda’s efforts to regroup and redeploy its operatives in the face of military and law enforcement crackdowns around the world, law enforcement and intelligence officials said Sunday.

“We can’t say it with 100% certainty,” said one U.S. official. “But it sure looks like him.

“This is a major setback for the Al Qaeda organization,” said the official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

Several U.S. officials said that the man believed to be Zubeida was apprehended with about 30 other suspected Al Qaeda and Taliban members Thursday during a joint raid by FBI officials, a few CIA operatives and Pakistani authorities in Faisalabad, Pakistan. One U.S. official said that the man, who bears a striking resemblance to photographs of Zubeida, was shot several times as he attempted to escape.

“He is undergoing medical treatment and will be interrogated about his knowledge of ongoing terrorist activities,” said the official.

Global Cooperation

The raid was one of several recent anti-terrorist actions in which the FBI and the CIA have actively participated with law enforcement personnel in other countries, instead of just providing intelligence information and support, according to U.S. officials. They described those actions as a significant advance in the effort to eradicate terrorism around the world and, in particular, to smash Al Qaeda.

“It signifies that there is a new set of rules post-9/11, with greater cooperation between us and other countries,” said one Bush administration official. “This is the new meat and potatoes of counterterrorism, with the U.S. and host governments working together to arrest these people. We have seen it in the Philippines, we have seen it in Yemen, and now we are seeing it in Pakistan.”

The raid was also significant in that it resulted in the apprehension of dozens of possible terrorist suspects from a variety of countries. The men captured appeared to be actively involved in “an important Al Qaeda cell, from the nature of the communications and the substance of what they were talking about,” according to one counterterrorism authority.

The raid was based, at least in part, on communications intercepts and other intelligence information provided by the CIA, said one U.S. official.

U.S. authorities, citing security concerns, said Sunday that they had not conclusively determined if Zubeida was among those captured. They declined to say where--or in whose custody--the suspect is being held.

“They are trying to figure out for sure if it is him,” said the Bush administration official. “It’s not like Bin Laden, where you can grab a lock of hair from one of his brothers and do a DNA match. Unless he decides to talk, it may take a while to figure out if it is really him.”

Seeking Identity Clues

Authorities are using several techniques to determine whether the man is Zubeida, they said, from interrogating him to running forensic tests. They are also showing the man’s photograph to individuals who know Zubeida.

If Zubeida has indeed been apprehended, the Bush official said, U.S. authorities will have hit what he described as “the Al Qaeda jackpot.”

“If it is him, this is obviously huge,” the official said, noting that U.S. authorities have been tracking Zubeida for years.

Zubeida, a relatively young member of Al Qaeda’s leadership, is known as a charismatic and elusive militant who rose quickly from jihad soldier to commander to gatekeeper of Al Qaeda’s training camps in Afghanistan.

From a way station in Pakistan, just across the border from Afghanistan, Zubeida spent years receiving incoming soldiers sent from Al Qaeda cells around the world and determining what kind of training they would need before returning to their home countries, according to counterterrorism authorities in the United States and elsewhere.

Zubeida also has traveled extensively to Europe, Asia and Africa to orchestrate and activate terrorist plots, maintain liaisons with terror cells and screen would-be guerrillas for training, authorities said. He has used at least 37 aliases and accompanying fake passports and identification documents from Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan and perhaps Morocco, according to a confidential U.S. investigative document obtained by The Times.

Zubeida took on an even larger role within Al Qaeda after the United States launched military strikes in Afghanistan in October, assuming the role of chief military strategist after one of Bin Laden’s chief lieutenants, Mohammed Atef, was reported killed in November, authorities believe.

So little is known about Zubeida that even his country of origin and his age are in question. He is believed to be about 30 years old. While some identity documents indicate that he was born in Saudi Arabia, some authorities say he is a Palestinian from the Gaza Strip.

On Sunday, Zubeida’s apparent capture reverberated among counterterrorism authorities worldwide.

“He will be the highest-ranking Al Qaeda member [in custody], with intimate details spanning many years of the inner workings of how Al Qaeda made decisions, of their plots and the details of the organization,” said Dr. Magnus Ranstorp, deputy director of the Center for the Study of Terrorism and Political Violence at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland.

But like some U.S. officials, Ranstorp questioned whether Zubeida’s capture would ultimately help in the ongoing terrorism investigations underway in Europe, Asia and the United States.

“I doubt they would be able to make him talk,” Ranstorp said. “These are hard people to break, not only in terms of ideological indoctrination and religious commitment. They are also very skilled in counterinterrogation techniques.”

Zubeida, he said, “has been in the battle for a long time, he is battle-hardened.”