Washington/Islamabad - A January 1 strike from an unmanned
CIA drone aircraft in Pakistan killed four top al-Qaeda operatives
including a suspect in both last year's Islamabad hotel attack and
the 1998 truck bombings against US embassies in Africa, the
Washington Post reported on its website early Friday.
However, Pakistani intelligence and Taliban sources contradicted
the report, insisting both al-Qaeda men were still alive.
The Washington Post cited US counter-terrorism officials with
access to secret reports, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Usama al-Kini, originally from Kenya, was among al-Qaeda suspects
killed in a drone missile strike against a target in South
Waziristan, in Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan, the officials
said.
He was described as the terrorist network's chief of operations in
Pakistan and is believed to have been the main planner of the 1998
Africa embassy bombings and the September attack on the Marriott
hotel in Islamabad.
Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, al-Kini's lieutenant, was also killed
in the strike, the report said. Both were among the United States'
most-wanted terrorism suspects, each listed with a reward of up to 5
million dollars for aid in their capture.
A spokesman of Pakistan's Interior Ministry, Shahidullah Baig,
refused to comment on the report. 'We are yet looking into it,' he
told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
An intelligence official in South Waziristan told dpa local
sources had informed him that both al-Kinai and Sweda were seen in
the area after the January 1 attack. 'The al-Qaeda people Americans
are talking about are alive,' said the official who spoke on
condition of anonymity.
A local man who is a Taliban supporter and has good contacts with
those who are sheltering the al-Qaeda operatives mentioned by the
Washington Post in the Karikot area where the US drone attack took
place insisted that 'these people are safe.'
'Only three people died in the January 1 attack and all three were
Turkmen. They were newcomers to the area,' said the local man, who
identified himself with the fictitious name Zaheer.
USA
Your Talkback on this Story