Pakistan arrests Al-Qaeda leader listed by United Nations

Pakistani counter-terror officials have arrested an Al-Qaeda leader, Amin ul Haq, who figures on a U.N. sanctions list, they said on Friday, describing him as a close associate of the dead Osama Bin Laden.

Pakistan’s first Al-Qaeda arrest in many years comes as the counter-terrorism department (CTD) in its most populous province of Punjab registered a legal case against Haq, accusing him of planning to sabotage key installations there, Reuters reported.

It did not identify his exact plans or the installations.

“In a significant breakthrough in the fight against terrorism, CTD, in collaboration with intelligence agencies, successfully apprehended Amin ul Haq, a senior leader of Al-Qaeda,” the department’s spokesperson said in the statement.

“His name is included in a U.N. list of terrorists,” it added.

Pakistan’s interior ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

On its list dating from Jan 2001, the United Nations’ sanctions panel on Daesh and Al-Qaeda identifies the arrested man as Amin Muhammad ul Haq Saam Khan, calling him a security coordinator for bin Laden.

He figured on the list for his association with the Al-Qaeda bin Laden, contributing to or supporting activities such as “supplying, selling or transferring arms and related materiel”, the panel said.

Bin Laden was killed in 2011 during a U.S. raid on his hideout in Pakistan’s northern city of Abbottabad.

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