Pakistan [2]'s military announced Sept. 6 the arrest of senior al-Qaeda [3] leader Younis al-Mauritani along with two other top operatives, Abdul Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami. Younis al-Mauritani is said to be head of al-Qaeda’s international operations, charged with planning and preparing attacks on the US, Europe and Australia. The arrests, in the city of Quetta, have been hailed as the fruit of cooperation between Pakistan's ISI and the CIA—despite recent friction between Islamabad and Washington over drone strikes. "I think it’s a tribute to the Pakistanis who worked with us in this effort," CIA director Leon Panetta told reporters on a visit to New York City to commemorate the 9-11 attacks. Asked whether the US would seek access to al-Mauritani, who is in Pakistani custody, Panetta said: "I assume that we will work with the Pakistanis to try to obtain access and try to gather intelligence from that individual." (Daily Times [4], Pakistan, AFP [5], Sept. 7; Reuters [6], Sept. 6)
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