Al-Qaeda deputy 'nearly captured'

Zawahiri is thought to be in hiding on the Afghan-Pakistan border

Pakistani troops narrowly missed a recent opportunity to capture al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, an official said.

A location in Mohmand tribal region on the Afghan border was attacked after Zawahiri's wife was seen there, said Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik.

But the soldiers did not find the couple, he said.

Pakistani and western officials say the country's north-western tribal region is a sanctuary for Islamic militants.

In recent weeks, Pakistani troops have been carrying out operations against militants' bases on the border between Mohmand and Bajaur tribal districts.

This two districts are located just opposite Afghanistan's Kunar province to the west, and are considered to be the most likely hiding place for Osama Bin Laden and other al-Qaeda operatives, including al-Zawahiri.

'Close connection'

"We certainly had traced him [Zawahiri] at one place, but we missed the chance," Mr Malik told a press conference in capital Islamabad.

"So he is moving in Mohmand, and of course, sometimes in Kunar, mostly in Kunar and Paktia [provinces]," he said.

Mr Malik did not say when this happened.

The interior ministry chief also said that a Pakistani umbrella organisation of militant groups, the Tehrik-e Taleban Pakistan (TTP), was "an extension of al-Qaeda".

"We have certain evidence that there is a close connection and similarities between al-Qaeda and TTP," Mr Malik said.

"If al-Qaeda is to move in a tribal area, they have to look to the TTP for refuge.

The TTP is a host to al-Qaeda, and is their mouthpiece," he said.

Zawahiri, an eye surgeon who helped found the Egyptian Islamic Jihad militant group, is often referred to as Osama Bin Laden's right-hand man and the chief ideologue of al-Qaeda.

He is also believed by some experts to have been the "operational brains" behind the 11 September 2001 attacks in the United States.

Zawahiri was number two - behind only bin Laden - in the 22 "most wanted terrorists" list announced by the US government in 2001 and continues to have a $25m bounty on his head.

Zawahiri was reportedly last seen in the eastern Afghan town of Khost in October 2001, and went into hiding after the fall of the Taleban.

He escaped a US missile strike in January 2006 near Pakistan's border with Afghanistan aimed at killing him.

The attack killed four al-Qaeda members.

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