Pakistani intelligence officials identified him as Abu Yahya Majadin Adam, a name similar to one listed on the FBI’s website as an alias for Gadahn, the 31-year-old man who has appeared in several Al Qaeda videos threatening the West since 2001.
“The resemblance of the name initially caused confusion, but now they have concluded he is not Gadahn,’’ said an intelligence officer, who, like all Pakistani intelligence agents, spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.
“He feels proud to be a member of Al Qaeda,’’ the officer added.
A senior US military intelligence official confirmed yesterday that the man arrested does not appear to be Gadahn. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of Pakistani operations.
White House spokesman Bill Burton said President Obama is getting updates on reports of the detained American but that the White House has not confirmed the information.
Asked about the arrests, Rehman Malik, Pakistan’s interior minister, cited unspecified reports that “some foreigners have been arrested two days back.’’ He said he had asked for more information on their identities from the intelligence agencies, which operate largely outside the control of the civilian government.
A US Embassy spokesman said the embassy had not been informed of any Americans being arrested, raising further questions about the man in custody.
The last known American Al Qaeda member to be arrested in Pakistan was Bryant Neal Vinas, who was captured by Pakistani authorities in late 2008 in the northwestern city of Peshawar near the Afghan border.
Several other Americans are known to have gone to Pakistan to join militants, including the imprisoned “American Taliban,’’ John Walker Lindh, and Jose Padilla, who was convicted of sending money, recruits, and supplies to Islamic extremist groups.
