Adam Gadahn, a Southern California native who works as a propagandist for Al Qaeda, has been arrested in Pakistan, sources said Sunday.
Gadahn has made videos for Al Qaeda and is wanted in the U.S. for treason. He was raised in Riverside County and later moved to Orange County, where he became a Muslim.
Reporting from Islamabad, Pakistan — Security forces in the southern port city of Karachi have arrested Adam Gadahn, a Southern California native who became a top propagandist for Al Qaeda and is wanted by the U.S. on treason charges, Pakistani intelligence sources in Karachi said Sunday.
The capture of Gadahn becomes the starkest signal yet that Pakistan has decided to ratchet up its cooperation with the U.S. in hunting down Islamic militants. In the last two months, Pakistani security forces have seized several top Afghan Taliban commanders, including the insurgency’s second in command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar.
Read more about the reported arrest of Adam Gadahn in this story from L.A. Times staff writer Alex Rodriguez.
[Updated at 8:30 p.m.: As of late Sunday, U.S. officials said the reports could not be confirmed. American intelligence agencies spent the day sorting out conflicting reports on the purported arrest of Adam Gadahn of Riverside. By late Sunday night, U.S. officials said the picture remained unclear.
“In terms of who may have been arrested, the Pakistani rumor mill belched out three very different possibilities in about six hours,” one U.S. official said. “That should tell you something right there. It’s by no means clear who, if anyone, the Pakistanis may have captured.”]