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US missile hit al-Qaeda operative
01/02/2008 10:46 - (SA)
Miranshah, Pakistan - A top al-Qaeda operative reportedly killed in Pakistan was at a compound in the country's tribal belt when it was hit by a US missile earlier this week, intelligence sources said on Friday.
"Abu Laith al-Libi was present when the missile struck the compound at 01:22 on Tuesday," one of two sources told AFP on condition of anonymity, but was unable to say whether he had been killed.
A total of 13 people were in the building, a guesthouse attached to the home of a local Taliban commander, at the time of the attack in the North Waziristan tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the sources said.
Militants had prevented tribesmen from attending the funerals of those killed and were still blocking off the blast site, three kilometres from Mir Ali, the second biggest town in North Waziristan, they said.
The Taliban commander who owned the compound, 45-year-old Abdus Sattar, was loyal to one of Pakistan's most wanted men, Islamist tribal warlord Baitullah Mehsud, the sources added.
Pakistani and US officials have blamed Mehsud, who is based in neighbouring South Waziristan, for orchestrating the assassination of opposition leader and former prime minister Benazir Bhutto in December.
Pakistani military spokesperson Major General Athar Abbas said earlier on Friday that he could neither confirm nor refute an Islamist website's claims that al-Libi had been killed.
"We cannot negate nor confirm because the moment it happened, they removed the bodies and buried them. So, how would anybody confirm who got killed?" Abbas told AFP.
- AFP
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