Islamabad, June 28: The US Federal Bureau of
Investigation has informed Pakistan that the al Qaeda-linked
Al Kini group was behind a series of terrorist attacks in the
country, including last year's suicide car bombing of the
Marriott Hotel.
The FBI has asked Pakistan's Federal Investigating
Agency to share its findings on these attacks that were
gathered through interrogation of arrested suspects to help
hunt down the top members of the Al Kini group.
In its latest communication to the FIA, the FBI said the
terror cells of the Al Kini group were involved in the bombing
of the Marriott, the suicide attack in Rawalpindi that killed
the army's surgeon general, Lt Gen Mushtaq Baig, and a bomb
attack on a police station in Sargodha, the Dawn newspaper
reported today.
The Al Kini group is named after Usama Al Kini alias
Azmarai, who was the al Qaeida chief for Pakistan until he was
killed in a drone attack in North Waziristan last year.
It is not clear who heads the al Qaida network in
Pakistan now but the FBI's correspondence suggests terror
cells loyal to Al Kini are still operating as a separate group
and carrying out attacks in Pakistan.
The deadliest of the known attacks by the group was the
bombing of the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad in September last
year. Nearly 60 people, including the Czech envoy, two US
Marines and another American national, were killed in that
attack.
The FBI had asked FIA and Islamabad police to share the
findings of their probe which could help in capturing three
persons described as absconders, including a man identified as
Ibraruddin Syed, the Dawn quoted a source as saying.
The source said information collected from Omar Farouk,
an arrested member of the Al Kini group, revealed that the
organisation had financed two terrorist attacks in Pakistan in
2007, including an attack on the Sarghoda police station.
A joint investigation team headed by FIA chief Tariq
Pervez, had investigated the Marriott bombing.
Mohammad Usman, a resident of Hayatabad in Peshawar,
Rana Illyas Ahmed of Sumanderi near Faisalabad, and Hameed
Afzal of Toba Tek Singh, were arrested by Pakistani security
agencies for alleged involvement in the Marriott bombing and
are currently facing trial in an anti-terror court.
The source said following FBI's request, the FIA chief
had sought permission from the federal government to share its
findings with the US agency as three Americans were killed in
the attack. The FBI has also sought a meeting with the team
that probed the Marriott bombing and joint efforts to bring
culprits to book.
The FIA has been requested to allow the FBI to carry out
forensic tests in their laboratories on pieces of the
explosive-laden truck, engine and shrapnel found after the
bombing of the hotel.
The FBI has apparently stepped up efforts to collect
information in liaison with the FIA and other Pakistani
security agencies to tighten the noose around the Al Kini
network, which many believe to be the most effective al Qaida
wing within Pakistan.
Bureau Report