A different story has emerged of the capture in Pakistan of Abu Farj al-Libbi, hailed by President Bush as a major coup in the war on terror.

Pakistan security forces claimed that they seized the al-Qaeda third in command after a two-day gun battle at a farmhouse in the Waziristan region. In fact, it appears that the chase lasted only a few minutes, as secret agents - some of them disguised in burkas - chased the terror mastermind over back walls.

Today Bakht Munir, a 32-year-old mechanic, told how he was sitting alone in a guesthouse in Mardan, north-west Pakistan, when a bearded man with a pistol in his hand climbed in through the low roof.

"I am a jihadi. Police are after me!" the man gasped in the local Pashto language before locking himself inside a room, not waiting for a reply.

Mr Munir did not know it at the time, but the "holy warrior" was al-Libbi - Pakistan’s most wanted man. Minutes after the Libyan terror suspect, who is accused of masterminding two assassination attempts on Pakistan’s President General Pervez Musharraf, entered the house, armed police and intelligence agents rushed in and asked Munir whether he had seen anybody come in.

"I signalled toward the room," he said. Al-Libbi refused to come out, so police fired tear gas shells through a window, forcing him out. With his pistol in one hand and a handkerchief in the other to cover his streaming eyes, al-Libbi emerged, muttering prayers.

Agents disarmed him, confiscated his mobile phone and then him led away, his head hooded. Mr Munir recounted the dramatic events inside the simple two-story, brick and concrete building where the arrest took place on Monday. The smell of tear gas still hung in the air and broken glass remained scattered on the floor.

Dozens of curious onlookers and children milled around, many clutching Pakistani newspapers with the photo of a dishevelled al-Libbi splashed across every front page after the formal announcement by Pakistan’s government yesterday.

"Yes, he is the same person who was arrested by police from this guest house," Mr Munir said.

The events leading to al-Libbi’s capture - hailed by President Bush as a victory against the enemy in the war on terrorism - began about 30 minutes earlier, on a busy road a quarter of a mile away on the outskirts of Mardan, about 75 miles northwest of Islamabad.

A military intelligence agent said Pakistani authorities received a tip-off after US agents intercepted a mobile phone call made by al-Libbi. They zeroed in on his suspected location and plainclothes agents, some disguised in burkas, hung around waiting for him to arrive.

Shopkeeper Mukhtar Ahmed told how the agents were galvanised into action when al-Libbi turned up with a second man on a motorbike. "I had just thought that perhaps they were waiting for somebody," he said.

There was an exchange of gunfire and al-Libbi managed to flee to the guest house by climbing over a back wall and through the roof, while the agents arrested the second man. Authorities have so far refused to identify him.

Zakir Khan, a relative of the guest house owner, said that a Pakistani intelligence agent had knocked on the family’s home next door and told him a "dangerous man" was hiding inside. The agent asked permission to enter the guest house and it was surrounded by about 30 or 40 armed men. Only a few of them went inside to capture al-Libbi.

"Today we saw his photos. I can say with confidence that the man who was arrested was Abu Farj (al-Libbi)," Mr Khan said.

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