Al-Qaeda No 2 believed dead

2006-01-14 08:07

Islamabad - Pakistan is investigating reports that al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri may have died in a US air strike on a village near the Afghan border, officials said on Saturday.

Separately, US intelligence sources said they had unconfirmed indications that a high-level target, possibly Osama bin Laden's Egyptian number two, was killed by a US Predator drone in Pakistan.

"The investigation is going on as to what happened there," Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told AFP, without elaborating. He refused to comment on whether Zawahiri may have been involved.

At least 18 people including women and children died when missiles hit the village of Mamund in northwestern Pakistan's restive Bajur tribal region bordering Afghanistan early on Friday, residents said.

Another Pakistani official, speaking on condition of anonymity due to the sensitive nature of the operation, said they were probing whether Zawahiri had been killed by the blast or had escaped.

US media reported that Zawahiri had been targeted in the attack and may have been killed.

US intelligence sources told AFP that the Central Intelligence Agency had indications that a top Al-Qaeda operative might have died in an attack by a remotely-piloted US drone.

"The CIA has indications that a high-level Al-Qaeda operative was killed by a Predator strike in Bajur. They are confirming an operation in Bajur," one of the sources told AFP on condition of anonymity.

"They say the strike may have killed Zawahiri."

- AFP