Pakistan checking identities of Al-Qaeda trio
ISLAMABAD (AFP) - Pakistan is investigating the identities of three Al-Qaeda militants reportedly killed in a US airstrike, including the son-in-law of the network's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri.
One of the dead was said to be Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, a top Al-Qaeda bomb maker with a five million dollar reward on his head, according to both ABC News and the Pakistani daily Dawn.
Another was reported to be Abu Obaidah al-Masri, Al-Qaeda's chief of operations for the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, where US and Afghan forces are battling a fierce insurgency, Dawn said, quoting security sources.
The third was Abdur Rehman al-Maghribi, the Moroccan son-in-law of
Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant Zawahiri and the head of Al-Qaeda's media operations, the English language newspaper said.
"According to a report some foreigners were killed in the incident that occurred in Bajur on January 13. We are investigating their identities," Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told AFP.
US officials were unable to confirm the report on Mursi, and appeared to have doubts that he had been definitively identified.
"It's an open ended question on who was at the site of the attack," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Egyptian Zawahiri was the target of last Friday's attack by
Central Intelligence Agency Predator drones, US intelligence sources have said, but Pakistani officials say he was likely not there at the time.
Pakistani officials said Tuesday that four or five "foreign terrorists" were killed in the missile raid after being invited for a dinner in Damadola village in the remote Bajur tribal agency bordering
Afghanistan.
Eighteen civilians also were reported killed in the strike, prompting large protests over the weekend in Pakistan.
"Obviously a decision along these lines (to launch an attack) is not taken lightly, and you can be assured it was based on very solid information," said a US counter-terrorism official, who asked not to be identified.
Pakistani officials said they found 18 freshly dug graves but two were empty. On Tuesday, Bajur's administrator said two local militants had removed the bodies of foreigners after the air strike.
If Mursi has been killed, the US official said, "that would be a very significant development."
A five million dollar reward for Mursi's capture is posted on a State Department list of wanted Al-Qaeda leaders.
The State Department posting says Mursi operated a training camp in Derunta, Afghanistan where hundreds of mujahideen were trained in the use of poisons and explosives.
He produced training manuals with recipes for crude chemicals and biological weapons, some of which were recovered by US forces in Afghanistan, it said.
The US official said Mursi also was associated with video-taped poison gas experiments on dogs in Afghanistan.
Some officials said Abu Obaidah al-Masri could have been a replacement for Al-Qaeda's suspected head of operations Hamza Rabia, whom Pakistan said was killed in December in North Waziristan, another tribal region.
Pakistan said he died when munitions exploded at a house but residents said he died in another suspected US missile strike.
One of the dead was said to be Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, a top Al-Qaeda bomb maker with a five million dollar reward on his head, according to both ABC News and the Pakistani daily Dawn.
Another was reported to be Abu Obaidah al-Masri, Al-Qaeda's chief of operations for the eastern Afghan province of Kunar, where US and Afghan forces are battling a fierce insurgency, Dawn said, quoting security sources.
The third was Abdur Rehman al-Maghribi, the Moroccan son-in-law of
Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant Zawahiri and the head of Al-Qaeda's media operations, the English language newspaper said.
"According to a report some foreigners were killed in the incident that occurred in Bajur on January 13. We are investigating their identities," Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told AFP.
US officials were unable to confirm the report on Mursi, and appeared to have doubts that he had been definitively identified.
"It's an open ended question on who was at the site of the attack," said one official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Egyptian Zawahiri was the target of last Friday's attack by
Central Intelligence Agency Predator drones, US intelligence sources have said, but Pakistani officials say he was likely not there at the time.
Pakistani officials said Tuesday that four or five "foreign terrorists" were killed in the missile raid after being invited for a dinner in Damadola village in the remote Bajur tribal agency bordering
Afghanistan.
Eighteen civilians also were reported killed in the strike, prompting large protests over the weekend in Pakistan.
"Obviously a decision along these lines (to launch an attack) is not taken lightly, and you can be assured it was based on very solid information," said a US counter-terrorism official, who asked not to be identified.
Pakistani officials said they found 18 freshly dug graves but two were empty. On Tuesday, Bajur's administrator said two local militants had removed the bodies of foreigners after the air strike.
If Mursi has been killed, the US official said, "that would be a very significant development."
A five million dollar reward for Mursi's capture is posted on a State Department list of wanted Al-Qaeda leaders.
The State Department posting says Mursi operated a training camp in Derunta, Afghanistan where hundreds of mujahideen were trained in the use of poisons and explosives.
He produced training manuals with recipes for crude chemicals and biological weapons, some of which were recovered by US forces in Afghanistan, it said.
The US official said Mursi also was associated with video-taped poison gas experiments on dogs in Afghanistan.
Some officials said Abu Obaidah al-Masri could have been a replacement for Al-Qaeda's suspected head of operations Hamza Rabia, whom Pakistan said was killed in December in North Waziristan, another tribal region.
Pakistan said he died when munitions exploded at a house but residents said he died in another suspected US missile strike.
posted by Marko at 1/19/2006 01:35:00 AM
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