It’s hard not to suspect that the reason they caught al-Libbi leaned more on the side of his assassination attempts on Musharraf, than for his other al-Qaeda work. From AP via Fox News, “AP: Pakistan Won’t Soon Hand Al Qaeda’s No. 3 to U.S.”
CANBERRA, Australia — An alleged terrorist reputed to be Al Qaeda’s No. 3 will face trial in Pakistan before Islamabad considers handing him to the United States, Pakistan’s foreign minister said Thursday.
Pakistani intelligence agents captured Libyan Abu Farraj al-Libbi last week after a shootout. He is suspected of being behind two bombings targeting Pakistan’s president and was also allegedly involved in a plot to kill its prime minister.
Pakistan Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri (search) said there was no chance of al-Libbi being handed to the Americans before he is prosecuted in Pakistan.
“Of course we have to (prosecute him). He’s a man who’s tried to kill our president twice,” Kasuri told The Associated Press in an interview in Canberra.
But the United States would be given access to information gleaned by Pakistani investigators, Kasuri said.
“The United States and Pakistan intelligence (agencies) have so much trust in each other, working on many issues for the last 50 years,” he said…