A Pakistani woman sought by US authorities as a suspected al-Qaeda operative was on Tuesday scheduled to appear in a New York court charged with attempted murder after a shooting last month involving US federal agents and soldiers in Afghanistan's Ghazni province.

An announcement on Monday that Aafia -Siddiqui had been arrested and flown to New York was the first word on the where-abouts of the US-trained neuroscientist since she -disappeared in Pakistan five years ago.