ISLAMABAD- Police today arrested an important commander in Al Qaeda's newly created South Asian wing. Shahid Usman and four others also seized weapons and 10kg of explosives.

The group tried to hijack a Pakistani navy ship in September this year, a few days after the wing had announced its formation. According to our sources, Usman is the chief of the Al Qaeda wing in Karachi.

“He is the Karachi chief of Al Qaeda's newly formed wing working under Asim Umar, the South Asia chief of Al Qaeda,” a senior official at the police counter-terrorism unit said. The official added that Usman lived in the city's most expensive commercial areas.