Top al-Qaida Leader Captured in Pakistan

In this image provided by Rewards for Justice, al-Qaida leader Mustafa Setmarian Nasar is shown in an undated photo. Nasar, a Syrian who also holds Spanish citizenship, has been detained in Pakistan and possibly handed over to American authorities, according to a U.S. law enforcement official who declined to be identified further because the matter is sensitive. (AP Photo/Rewards for Justice) (AP)

KABUL, Afghanistan -- A top al-Qaida leader whose links stretch from Osama bin Laden's training camps to extremist networks in Europe has been captured in Pakistan, a U.S. law enforcement official confirms for the first time.

Pakistani officials also told The Associated Press that Mustafa Setmarian Nasar, a dual Syrian-Spanish national with a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, had been flown out of the country to an unspecified location.

Nasar was captured in a November sting in the southwestern Pakistani city of Quetta that left one person dead, the American official said on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the matter. The official spoke to the AP late last week.

U.S. military officials aware of the detention of terror suspects at American prison facilities in Bagram, Afghanistan, and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, had no immediate information Tuesday on whether Nasar had been incarcerated at either jail.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official told the AP from the capital, Islamabad, that Nasar was flown out of Pakistan to an undisclosed destination "some time ago."

"I only know that he is not here. But, I do know that Syrian authorities had also requested to get him back," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his work.

Pakistani and American officials have long been tightlipped on the status of Nasar. He has been described by the U.S. Justice Department as a former trainer at bin Laden's camps in Afghanistan who helped teach extremists to use poisons and chemicals.

Another Pakistani official confirmed the Quetta arrest but had no information on Nasar's whereabouts.

"He had been interrogated by us. He had been interrogated by our American friends," said the official, who also declined to be identified because of the secretive nature of his activities.

He added that both Syrian and U.S. authorities wanted to take Nasar into custody.

A picture and short biography of the red-haired Nasar was recently removed from the U.S. government's Rewards for Justice Web site. Justice and State Department officials declined to say why Nasar was no longer profiled.

It would not be the first time Pakistan _ a key U.S. ally in the war against terrorism _ has detained al-Qaida terrorists and turned them over to the Americans.