Bosnian police arrest suspect after tracing phone call to bin Laden aide

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina – Bosnian police arrested a man linked to one of Osama bin Laden's top aides, a government minister said Monday.

Interior Minister Muhamed Besic identified the suspect as Bensayah Belkacem and said telephone logs provided by foreign intelligence services showed Belkacem had at least one telephone conversation with a senior bin Laden aide identified as Abu al Maid.

Besic said Belkacem and al Maid discussed the procurement of foreign passports and that Belkacem had two sets of documents identifying him either as Yemeni or Algerian.

He was detained in Zenica, 25 miles northwest of Sarajevo.

During the Bosnian war, Zenica was the stronghold of radical fighters from Islamic countries who fought alongside Bosnia's Muslims in the country's war of independence precipitated in 1992, when the republic broke away from Yugoslavia.

Of the hundreds who fought in Bosnia against Serbs and Croats, some married local women and stayed, and most of them have Bosnian passports.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States, the fighters have been the subject of increased police surveillance.

APNP-10-08-01 1013CDT