'Terror suspects handed by Pak to Saudi are sons of Qaeda leader

Saudi authorities had shared intelligence about Al-Alawi's sons Ali and Siddique with Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik during his recent visit to Jeddah and requested cooperation in tracing and arresting the two top planners of suicide attacks, the Dawn newspaper quoted its sources as saying. On the basis of this information, Pakistani intelligence agencies arrested the two men during a raid on a sanctuary in the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

Pakistani media reported on Tuesday that Pakistan had handed over the two suspects to Saudi Arabia in exchange for five Pakistani nationals who were arrested in the Kingdom on charges of drug smuggling. After their arrest, the two terror suspects were brought to Islamabad and then sent to Saudi Arabia in a special plane after being interrogated briefly. Prince Nayef then announced the release of the five Pakistanis. Saudi Arabia and Pakistan do not have an extradition treaty.

The operation against the terror suspects was completed before the Eid festival and Malik announced at a news conference that the five Pakistanis had been released by the Saudi authorities though he did not say what had prompted Saudi Arabia to free them. Al-Alawi has been described as a top Al Qaeda leader from Yemen and his two sons were operating from Pakistan's tribal areas, from where they managed and supervised terror attacks.

Prince Nayef was injured when a suicide bomber blew himself up at a gathering during Ramzan in Jeddah last month. Eight Pakistanis were arrested in Jeddah on charges of carrying drugs. Three of them have been found to be guilty as they were involved in the drug trade for some time and had travelled to Saudi Arabia several times.