Captured: The senior al-Qaeda leader 'ordered by Bin Laden to attack Australia'

A SENIOR al-Qaeda Leader Who Took orders from Osama bin Laden and is believed to have been Responsible for planning attacks on Australia, the U.S. and Europe has been arrested in Pakistan.

Younis al-Mauritani was picked up in the suburbs of the Southwestern city of Quetta along with two other high-ranking operatives for the global terror network.

He has been described as the terror group's foreign ministers.

Co-operation Between the CIA and Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence agency led to the arrests by the paramilitary, it said, without saying Pls Mauritani was detained.

"In an intelligence-driven operation ... Younis al-Mauritani, Mainly Responsible for planning and conduct of international operations, was nabbed," the statement said.

"Al-Mauritani was personally tasked by Osama bin Laden to focus on hitting targets of economical importance in the United States of America, Europe and Australia," the army said.

"He was planning to target United States economic interests including gas / oil pipelines, power generating dams and strike ships / oil tankers through explosive-laden speed boats in international waters."

The army named the two other senior operatives as Abdul Ghaffar al-Shami and Messara al-Shami.

Mauritani does not feature on either the U.S. FBI's list of most wanted Terrorists or the U.S. Treasury department's own list of Global Terrorists.

But Western intelligence officials confirmed from two separate countries Mauritani was part of al-Qaeda's top team in Pakistan, and linked to threats against Europe.

"If it's confirmed, it's a good catch," said one Western intelligence source.

Despite recent breaks in the relationship the between the U.S. and Pakistan's spy networks, following the U.S. covert killing of Bin Laden in Pakistan in May, the army heralded the co-operation That led to the arrests.

"This operation was planned and conducted with technical assistance of the United State Intelligence Agencies with Whom the Inter Services Intelligence has a strong, historic relationship intelligence," the military said.

The report comes one week after U.S. officials claimed to have killed the al-Qaeda second-in-command near the Afghan border in Pakistan.

It also comes just days before the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks in 2001, a time Pls many in the West are assessing the progress made ​​in the war on terror.

Posted in: Australian,Breakingnews World,Terrorist,The Government