American Al-Qaeda Member Adam Gadahn Arrested in Pakistan After Releasing Video Calling for Muslims to Attack the US

After releasing a video on Sunday praising the Fort Hood shootings and calling for Muslims to attack the United States, Adam Gadahn was arrested Pakistan in the southern port city of Karachi. A native of Southern California, Gadahn became a top propagandist for Al-Qaeda and was wanted in the U.S. on treason charges.

Sources in Karachi said that Gadan was arrested in a pickup truck with a driver Saturday night. Pakistani police and intelligence agents said that they collaborated on the arrest after they received information about Gadahn's whereabouts.

According to an American counter-terrorism official, the CIA and other agencies were "looking into reports" of his capture, but could not yet confirm his arrest. Speaking on conditions of anonymity, the official said:

"If reports of a major terrorist capture are true, it would signal the Pakistanis' continuing commitment to fighting extremism."

Pakistan has indeed been cooperating with the U.S.in cracking down on Islamic militants in recent months. Pakistan's security forces have seized several top Afghan Taliban commanders,including the insurgency's second-in-command, Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar. The arrest of Baradar and other Taliban leaders have also occurred in Karachi. According to sources, Gadahn's arrest took place on the city's outskirts near where Baradar was arrested.

Gadan is on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists, and is accused of treason and "providing material support to Al Qaeda." The U.S. Government had offered a $1 million reward for information leading to his arrest or conviction.

In his most recent video which was posted on an extremist Islamic website on Sunday, Gadahn praised the U.S. Army major who is charged with killing 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas. He also urges Muslims to carry out attacks against U.S. and Western targets.

Salam Marayati, the head of the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles, commented on the reported arrest Sunday, saying that it was "welcome." He also said:

"This is one step closer to defeating Al Qaeda, and defeating the mentality of death and despair, which is alien to Islam."

Gadahn is the first American since the World War II era to be charged with treason. A federal grand jury in Orange County indicted Gadahn, 31, in 2006 for providing material support to Al Qaeda by appearing in five different videos from Oct. 27, 2004 to September 11, 2006, with the intent "to betray the United States."

Gadahn was raised on a goat farm in Riverside County by parents of varying religious tastes. At the age of 14, he is said to have fallen under the influence of two radical Muslims at an Orange County mosque and later relocated to Pakistan.