Pakistan hands key Al Qaeda suspect to US

ISLAMABAD, JANUARY 25 (AGENCIES) Pakistan has given US officials custody of a key Al Qaeda figure wanted for the 1998 bombing of American embassies in East Africa and the suspect has been flown out of the country, officials said on Tuesday.

Tanzanian Ahmad Khalfan Ghailani was arrested in a raid in the eastern industrial town of Gujrat in July last year and was handed over to the US last month, according to a security official.

"Ghailani has been handed over to US custody because he wasn't wanted in any crime over here," the Pakistani official, who declined to be identified, told AFP. He did not give any further details.

Ghailani has been indicted in the US for his involvement in the bombings more than six years ago of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, which left more than 200 dead.

Pakistan, a key ally in Washington's so-called war on terror, has already captured around 600 alleged AlQaeda supporters, including some major operatives. Most have been handed to the United States