The United States said it had in custody a top-ranking Osama bin Laden deputy, calling his capture in Pakistan "a very serious blow" to the Saudi-born militant's al-Qaeda network.
The White House said yesterday Mr Abu Zubaydah, who was described as a "key terrorist recruiter and operational planner" in al-Qaeda, had been taken into custody.
The US Defense Secretary Mr Donald Rumsfeld: "Being a very senior al-Qaeda official who has been intimately involved in a range of activities for the al-Qaeda, there is no question that having an opportunity to visit with him is helpful."
The capture of Mr Zubaydah, said to be bin Laden's right-hand man, by Pakistani authorities on March 28th during targeted raids in the town of Faisalabad was an intelligence and public relations coup for the Bush administration in its six-month anti-terror campaign.
Despite vows from President Bush and other US officials to bring bin Laden and al-Qaeda to justice, he and many of his top operatives appear to have escaped death or eluded capture.
The US military is holding more than 500 suspected al-Qaeda and Taliban captured in and around Afghanistan, but most of them are considered foot soldiers.
US officials meanwhile praised Pakistani President Mr Pervez Musharraf for his co-operation, saying he had made strong statements calling on "the silent majority" in Pakistan to stand up against an extremist minority.