A senior Yemeni al-Qaeda operative has been arrested in the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, Pakistan's army says.
Mohammed Ali Qasim, also known as Abu Suhaib al-Makki, had been working under al-Qaeda leaders along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border, a statement said.The army said his arrest was a "major development in unravelling the al-Qaeda network operating in the region".
An Abu Suhaib al-Makki was once named by a jihadist website as a leader of a group of "Arab Afghans" in Afghanistan.
The BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad says that since Osama Bin Laden was found and killed by US commandos on Pakistani soil on 2 May, the country's military establishment has been under scrutiny and pressure.
The US wants proof that Pakistan's army and powerful Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency are not fighting militants with one hand, while helping them with the other, our correspondent says.
Now the security agencies have an arrest to announce, hot on the heels of a visit on Monday by the senior US Senator John Kerry, she adds.
Sen Kerry said the secrecy surrounding the Bin Laden mission was crucial to its success, and stressed the need for both countries to get their relationship back on track and work together to combat terrorism.
Few other details have been provided about Qasim's arrest. It is unclear what ranking he had in al-Qaeda, and when exactly he was detained.
However, a security source told Reuters news agency that he had been "hiding in a house right in the middle" of Karachi.
"The arrest was made after intelligence operations began in various cities after 2 May. The intelligence operation is still on," he added.
A US official told the Associated Press that he was a mid-level al-Qaeda operative. He does not appear on any US wanted lists.
Al-Qaeda's deputy leader, Egyptian Ayman al-Zawahiri, is still at large. Sources have claimed that he is also hiding in Pakistan.
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