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| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| US detains 'top al-Qaeda figure' | US detains 'top al-Qaeda figure' |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| A top al-Qaeda figure suspected of having close ties to Osama Bin Laden has been taken to the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp, the Pentagon says. | A top al-Qaeda figure suspected of having close ties to Osama Bin Laden has been taken to the US-run Guantanamo Bay detention camp, the Pentagon says. |
| The man, named as Muhammad Rahim, helped arrange Bin Laden's escape from his Tora Bora hideout in Afghanistan in 2001, US officials say. | |
| He was transferred to the Pentagon from CIA custody, a Pentagon spokesman said. | He was transferred to the Pentagon from CIA custody, a Pentagon spokesman said. |
| It is not yet clear when or where the CIA captured him, or how long he has been in US custody. | It is not yet clear when or where the CIA captured him, or how long he has been in US custody. |
| 'Most trusted' | |
| Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said Rahim was a close associate of Bin Laden and had ties to al-Qaeda groups throughout the Middle East. | |
| "He is one of [Osama Bin Laden's] most trusted facilitators and procurement specialists," Mr Whitman said. | |
| "He helped prepare Tora Bora as a hideout for Osama Bin Laden. He assisted al-Qaeda's exodus from the area in late 2001." | |
| US forces are believed to have come closest to trapping Bin Laden in a complex of caves in the mountainous Tora Bora region near the Pakistani border. | |
| The hunt for him began following the 11 September, 2001, terror attacks on the US by al-Qaeda operatives. |