WASHINGTON, April 2 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - U.S. officials said Monday, April 1, that Abu Zubaydah, a suspected top associate of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, was in U.S. custody at an undisclosed location and receiving medical treatment for three gunshot wounds he received while trying to escape capture in Pakistan. 

However, conflicting reports at this time indicate that the capture is not confirmed as CNN reports the Pakistani Foreign Ministry said Monday it had not determined if a series of raids last week had netted Abu Zubaydah. 

A ministry official denied reports in local media that the country had handed over to the U.S. 20 Arabs arrested in the raids. 

The New York Times states that some 25 Arabs and five Taliban fighters were seized in the Thursday, March 28 raids, and included citizens from Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Syria, Egypt and Afghanistan. The total number nabbed is believed to be around 50 when including Pakistani citizens. 

News agencies report that U.S. officials believe Abu Zubaydah, an Al-Qaeda recruiter and top bin Laden lieutenant, was among more than 40 foreigners and Pakistanis rounded up in raids in Faisalabad, Lahore and Multan last week. He would be the highest-ranking Al-Qaeda member in U.S. custody. 

"It is not 100 percent certain, but it appears that it is the person known as Abu Zubaydah," one U.S. official said on condition of anonymity. 

"All indications are it is him," a senior American official said. "There is only a slight possibility that it isn't," reported the Times. 

U.S. officials said the man was in U.S. custody "in an undisclosed location." He was captured by Pakistani authorities while trying to escape from a house in Faisalabad and was shot three times in the groin and thigh area, one official told news agencies. 

The man's appearance, his identification by others who know Abu Zubaydah and the fact that those swept up in the raids were known associates of Abu Zubaydah contributed to the strong belief that the man in custody was Zayn Al-'Abidin Muhammad Husayn Abu Zubaydah, the official said. 

Abu Zubaydah's role and responsibilities in the network grew after top bin Laden aide Mohammed Atef was killed in U.S. air strikes in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. The Times refers to him as “chief of operations” for the Al-Qaeda network. 

With bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri, his second-in-command, on the run, Abu Zubaydah is believed to have a leading role in managing the network from within Pakistan. 

Abu Zubaydah, 30, a Palestinian born in Saudi Arabia, has used multiple aliases to travel extensively and is suspected of possible ties to the Sept. 11 attacks on the U.S., officials said. U.S. officials say establishing his identity is difficult because there are only a few known photos of Abu Zubaydah, reports CNN, and he is known to change his hair and put on weight. 

U.S. officials say they believe he was trying to rebuild Al-Qaeda network so that it can mount new attacks against the United States, reported the Times. 

Abu Zubaydah was a key recruiter for Al-Qaeda training camps in Afghanistan, U.S. officials said. Working out of Pakistan, he would meet and screen volunteers and arrange travel to training camps in Afghanistan and then arrange for their travel home or assign them to cells overseas, U.S. officials said.

Abu Zubaydah has been considered one of Bin Laden's top three aides and is listed on the U.S. list of people and organizations whose U.S. assets, when found, are to be frozen.  

Pakistani officials said the raids were carried out with information supplied by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI). The Times reports that the Pakistani police, who were joined by agents from the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency and FBI, conducted the raids. CNN quotes the numbers of U.S. officials involved as 35. 

The U.S. Justice Department has refused to comment on whether FBI officials were involved in the raids, and a Pakistani foreign ministry spokesman also denied the presence of FBI operatives, although he did say the mission was a joint one between Pakistani and U.S. operatives, reports CNN. 

The paper reports that the Faisalabad raid and a parallel one in Lahore, Pakistan, appear to be the first time that U.S. intelligence and law enforcement officials had teamed up with foreign operatives and conducted a raid in a foreign country as part of U.S. President George W. Bush’s administration's campaign against terrorism. 

The Washington Post reports the raids followed recent news stories suggesting that Al-Qaeda and Taliban officials escaping from Afghanistan were beginning to operate freely in Pakistan. 

"For the moment they are in custody," Pakistan Foreign Ministry spokesman Aziz Ahmed Khan said of the suspects on Monday. Khan said it was not yet certain whether the man in custody was Abu Zubaydah: "We have not been able to determine anything so far."  

There is no indication that other top Al-Qaeda operatives were captured in Thursday’s raid, but Pakistani officials are preparing more raids.