*Pakistani authorities have arrested Yasser al-Jaziri, a North African al-Qaeda leader, in the posh Gulburg district of Lahore. They met no resistance after acting on a tip. The report identified him as a Moroccan or Moroccan-Algerian dual national responsible for al-Qaeda business interests. He was apparently arrested based on information brought in by the apprehension earlier this month of Khalid Shaikh Muhammad, al-Qaeda’s no. 3. The Pakistani family with whom he was staying was not taken into custody. He was one of those whom Pakistani physician Ahmad Javed Khwaja had been accused of being in touch with. The arrest follows the apprehension of 5 al-Qaeda men in Peshawar on Mar. 11.
*Asharq al-Awsat says that Islamist circles in London fear that if Bin Laden is killed or captured, it will deal a death blow to al-Qaeda and its generation of jihadis or radical militants. They say Ayman al-Zawahiri, the number two man, lacks Bin Laden’s charisma and his long months on the run have left him with no control over the network; and Saad Bin Laden is only in his 20s and cannot actually take over his father’s organization. (Saad is thought to be in southwestern Afghanistan near the Pakistan border). On the other hand, they are confident that a new generation of jihadis is now growing up, and that Bin Laden has succeeded in convincing them that their primary target should be the United States.
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