NEW YORK — Zambian authorities have detained a man sought in connection with this month's deadly London bombings and for his alleged role in setting up a terrorist training camp in Oregon, U.S. officials said Wednesday.
Haroon Rashid Aswat, 30, a British citizen of Indian descent, piqued the interest of investigators when they discovered that about 20 calls had been placed from his cellphone to some of the four men who set off bombs on London's transit system July 7, killing 52 people and themselves.
Two Pakistani sources said last week that Aswat had been arrested there. But other Pakistani officials subsequently denied that, and in recent days British and Indian officials said the arrest in Pakistan was a case of mistaken identity involving a Briton with a name similar to Aswat's.
Two U.S. anti-terrorism officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the ongoing investigation, said Aswat had been arrested in Zambia, but they would not elaborate. Aswat has lived in South Africa and traveled extensively on the continent; Zambia has a sizable Indian community.
One of the U.S. officials said British and American anti-terrorism investigators had gone to Zambia after Aswat's detention last week and were in talks with officials there to determine where it would be best to prosecute Aswat.
Aswat reportedly grew up in the same part of northern England as three of the July 7 bombers. He has been characterized by U.S. law enforcement officials as an emissary of Abu Hamza al Masri, a radical Muslim cleric in London who has repeatedly denounced the United States.
Aswat first came to the attention of U.S. authorities several years ago when he surfaced as a close associate of a Seattle man planning to build a terrorist training camp near Bly, Ore., near the California border.
Court records in New York and Seattle, and interviews with federal authorities in both cities, reveal details about Aswat's alleged activities in the United States and his association with Abu Hamza and his followers.
Visiting New York, Seattle and Oregon, he allegedly boasted that he was the personal "hit man" for Al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden and that he had been sent to the United States by Abu Hamza to get the camp underway and prepare future militants for attacks in America.
One U.S. federal law enforcement official said of Aswat, "He has gotten around, and he's been someone of interest for some time."
