Bin Laden deputy may be dead in Pakistan strike- unconfirmed reports:
Al-Qaeda deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri may have been among victims of a US strike Friday on a Pakistani village which killed 18 people, ABC television reported, citing Pakistan military sources.
The sources said five of those killed in the raid were "high level Al-Qaeda figures" whose bodies are undergoing forensic tests for identification, ABC reported. They said Osama bin Laden's deputy, who has been known to stay at houses in the village, may have been one of the victims. However, on Friday the US Defense Department denied having conducted operations in the area.
Zawahiri is a doctor who has become Al-Qaeda's most senior spokesman in videos released in recent months as bin Laden keeps a low profile. He appeared in a new video released last week.At least 18 people including women and children died when helicopters launched missiles on a village in Pakistan's tribal region bordering Afghanistan, residents said earlier. The incident was in Mamund, in the Bajur tribal zone of eastern Pakistan.
DAMADOLA, Pakistan - An airstrike on a Pakistani village near the Afghan border may have targeted Osama bin Laden's right-hand man, a senior Pakistani official said Saturday. He said efforts were under way to determine if the elusive Ayman al-Zawahri or any other terror suspects were among at least 17 people killed.
Citing unnamed American intelligence officials, U.S. networks reported that a CIA-operated Predator drone aircraft carried out the missile strike in the Bajur tribal region of northwestern Pakistan.
An AP reporter who visited the scene in Damadola village about 12 hours later saw three destroyed houses, hundreds of yards apart. Villagers, who denied any links to Taliban or al-Qaida militants, recounted hearing aircraft flying overhead before being bombarded by blasts felt miles away. By their count at least 30 people died, including women and children.
There was no confirmation from either Islamabad or Washington on the reports, but a senior Pakistani official told The Associated Press there was a "50-50 chance that some al-Qaida personality" was at one of the homes hit and that he had heard it could be al-Zawahri. He expected more information later Saturday.
ABC quoted anonymous Pakistani military sources as saying five top al-Qaida officials were believed killed. U.S. and Pakistani officials told NBC news that as many as 10 missiles were fired at the village, 125 miles northwest of the capital Islamabad. |
