US to wait for al-Qaeda suspect

Pakistan put a bounty on Libbi's head

Pakistan says there will not be an early handover to the United States of the recently captured Libyan al-Qaeda suspect, Abu Faraj al-Libbi.

Foreign Minister Khurshid Kasuri said that Libbi would remain in Pakistani custody until "all issues are cleared".

Mr Kasuri said that Pakistan had a "very strong vested interest" in any handover because he is suspected of attempts on President Musharraf's life.

Libbi was arrested earlier this month in north-western Pakistan.

Pakistan and the US have described Libbi as the number three in al-Qaeda. Security analysts say his status is hard to confirm.

On the move

"Pakistan has a very strong record of sharing intelligence with our friends, and we have very strong links with the United States," Mr Kasuri said during a visit to Australia.

"So at the moment he's in the custody of the Pakistan government, and until all issues are cleared there's no question he's being handed over to anyone else."

Mr Kasuri said that it would be for the Pakistani interior ministry to decide when and if Libbi should be handed over.

"The Pakistani army has effectively paralysed the communication network of al-Qaeda both horizontally and vertically Khurshid Kasuri

He said that if the al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden is still alive he was assumed to be "continually on the move" between Pakistani tribal areas and Afghanistan.

"The second assessment and a fair one, would be that he would not be moving with a large group of people otherwise he would be detected," Mr Kasuri said.

He said that "apart from a few stragglers" al-Qaeda's "capacity for mischief" had been vastly reduced.