Pakistani security forces are questioning a key al-Qaeda suspect Abu Faraj al-Liby, who was alsowanted for suicide attack on President General Pervez Musharraf, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Wednesday.

Abu Faraj al Liby, a Libyan citizen who has long worked with Osama bin Laden, is believed to have taken over the No. 3 job withthe capture of his mentor, Khalid Sheik Mohammed, in Pakistan in March 2003.

"This is a great achievement of the security agencies and armedforces. His arrest proves that our security agencies are very active," Sheikh Rashid Wednesday told the state-run Pakistan television.

"He was the most wanted man and involved in two assassination of Musharraf," he said.

The minister said that Faraj is being investigated by investigative agencies.

As Mohammed's top deputy, Abu Faraj is believed to have played a role in organizing the 9/11 attacks.

Last year Pakistani officials issued a poster of the country's "most wanted terrorists," offering rewards of 20 million rupees (333,333 US dollars) for the capture of Abu Faraj.

Pakistani officials said that Abu Faraj is also known as "Dr. Taufeek." (Taufiq, Taufeeq, an Arabic name meaning "prosperity")

The United States believed that Faraj once served as an assistant to Osama bin Laden, probably while al Qaeda was based inthe Sudan during the early 1990s.

Pakistani officials say Faraj is the new No. 3 man in the al-Qaeda network and may know the general whereabouts of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri, al-Qaeda's No. 2 man.

President General Pervez Musharraf reportedly said last year "we will get him (Faraj)." Capturing him has become a top priority of intelligence agencies in Pakistan and the United States. Enditem