Islamabad: Pakistani intelligence officials said that four al-Qaeda militants were killed in a US air strike, which reportedly included the son-in-law of the network’s number two man -- Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Sympathisers took the bodies of the terrorists away and Pakistani authorities are trying to establish their identities through sources in the remote tribal region bordering Afghanistan, the officials said.
Protests erupted across key US ally Pakistan on the weekend as 18 civilians also died in an attack on Friday. Islamabad lodged a formal complaint with Washington.
"From local sources we have got the information that four al-Qaeda operatives were at a dinner meeting and they were killed. Their bodies were taken away by their accomplices but we are trying to confirm who they were," a senior intelligence official said.
One of the dead was said to be Abdur Rehman al-Maghribi, Zawahiri's son-in-law and the head of Al-Qaeda's media operations, the Pakistani daily Dawn reported, quoting security sources.
Zawahiri, who is an Egyptian, was the target of Friday's attack by Central Intelligence Agency Predator drones. However, Pakistani officials say that in all likelihood he was not present at the meeting.
Another terrorist killed in the strike was reportedly Midhat Mursi, 52, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri. He is a top al-Qaeda bomb maker with a $ five million reward on his head.
The third was identified as 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.
The fourth terrorist has not been identified but reports said he might have been an Egyptian national named Mustafa Usman.
"According our reports some foreigners were killed in the incident that occurred in Bajur on January 13. We are investigating their identities," Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid said.
Comments
0 comment