Pakistan detains al Qaeda operative tied to multiple plots

An al Qaeda operative connected to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks and a Mumbai-style plot against Europe has been reportedly detained in Pakistan. The operative, a French-Algerian named Naamen Meziche, had been living in Iran as of earlier this year. But Meziche was captured inside Pakistan, near the border with Iran, as he was trying to re-enter that country, according to CBS News.

Meziche not only had extensive ties to al Qaeda's 9/11 Hamburg cell, but he was also part of a second Hamburg cell that planned to carry out terrorist attacks against European cities in 2010. Those attacks were to be modeled after the 2008 siege of Mumbai, India and were ordered by slain al Qaeda master Osama bin Laden.

The 2010 plot was also linked to an al Qaeda network operating inside Iran. That... [via Long War Journal]