U.S. Pakistan cooperate in al Qaeda arrest

Pakistan: Pakistan said on Monday it had arrested a senior member of al Qaeda with help from the United States, dealing a fresh blow to the Islamist militant group and prompting both countries to stress they were working closely on counter-terrorism.

The arrest of Younis al-Mauritani in the southwestern city of Quetta and comments about intelligence cooperation suggested the United States and Pakistan were putting behind them the bitterness caused by the unilateral raid by U.S. forces who killed al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden on May 2.

"This is an example of the longstanding partnership between the U.S. and Pakistan in fighting terrorism, which has taken many terrorists off the battlefield over the past decade," White House spokesman Josh Earnest said.

"We applaud the actions of Pakistan's intelligence and security services that led to the capture of a senior al-Qaeda operative who was involved in planning attacks against the interests of the United States and many other countries," he said. The Pakistan army said in a statement that bin Laden had personally told Mauritani to focus on targets of economic importance in the United States, Europe and Australia. Islamabad, Tuesday, Reuters