Pakistan hands over suspected bin Laden aide

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- A suspected longtime aide to Osama bin Laden has been handed over to American authorities and flown out of Pakistan, a Pakistani official said Monday.

Adil Al-Jazeeri was blindfolded with his hands tied behind his back while he was taken to an American plane in Peshawar late Sunday, the intelligence official said on the condition of anonymity.

The official said he believed the al-Qaida suspect was flown to Bagram, an American forces base in neighboring Afghanistan.

Pakistan officials believe Al-Jazeeri, arrested in Pakistan last month, is a ranking member of bin Laden's al-Qaida terror network.

"He was interrogated here. He is among the important people of al-Qaida. Useful information can be obtained from him," the official said.

Al-Jazeeri, an Algerian national, was arrested in the upscale residential district of Hayatabad in Peshawar, which borders Afghanistan.

Another al-Qaida suspect, Abu Naseem of Tunisia, also was arrested near Peshawar the same day Al-Jazeeri was caught.

Neither Al-Jazeeri nor Abu Naseem appear on the American FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.

Nearly 500 al-Qaida suspects have been arrested in Pakistan and most of them have been handed over to the United States.