Text 16417, 97 rader
Skriven 2005-12-03 14:10:00 av Jeff Binkley (1:226/600)
Ärende: Missile strike
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Officials: CIA missile strike kills al-Qaida No. 3
Terrorist group's operational leader Rabia killed in Pakistan
NBC News and news services
Updated: 2:07 p.m. ET Dec. 3, 2005

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - The operational commander of al-Qaida and possibly the
No. 3 official in the terrorist organization, Hamza Rabia, was killed early
Thursday morning by a CIA missile attack on a safehouse in Pakistan, officials
told NBC News.

Pakistan's president later confirmed the militant leader's death.

Yes indeed, 200 percent. I think he was killed the day before yesterday if Im
not wrong, President Pervez Musharraf told reporters as he arrived in Kuwait on
an official visit on Saturday.

While Pakistani officials publicly said Rabia died in a blast caused by
explosives stored in a house for bomb-making, officials speaking on condition
of anonymity told NBC News he was killed by a CIA missile strike carried out by
an unmanned Predator airplane.

Pakistan's government has always been reticent to admit that Predators are used
in Pakistani airspace to hunt down al-Qaida operatives.

The sources told NBC News Rabia was one of five men killed at a safehouse
located in the village of Asorai, in western Pakistan, near the town of Mirali.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Rabias remains were identified
via a DNA test.

Among those killed in the attack were two Pakistanis and three Arabs. The
attacks were reportedly carried out between 1:45 a.m. and 2 a.m. local time on
Thursday.

Local residents said that the men were killed by an unknown number of missiles
fired by an unmanned Predator aircraft. The witnesses said that missile
remnants bearing U.S. markings remain in the area. They also said they had
heard six explosions, but it is uncertain how many of these were the result of
missile attacks and how many may have been the result of the missiles
detonating explosives inside the safehouse.

On Saturday, Pakistans Dawn newspaper, citing sources it did not identify,
reported that the attack on a mud-walled home near Miran Shah may have been
launched from two pilotless planes.

Associates from outside Pakistan retrieved the bodies of Rabia and two other
foreigners and buried them in an unknown location, the report said.

The U.S. government confirmed that a missile attack took place, but would not
confirm that Rabia was killed.

Rabia had moved up al-Qaida ranks
Rabia has been sought by both U.S. and Pakistani officials for more than two
years. Pakistan has offered a $1 million reward for his capture. He is believed
to have participated in the planning for two assassination attempts against
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf on Dec. 14 and Dec. 25, 2003. At that
time, Rabia was believed to be the chief deputy to Abu Faraj al-Libbi,
al-Qaida's operational chief and the No. 3 man in the organization. In May,
Pakistani security forces captured Abu Faraj and turned him over to the United
States.

U.S. officials have said that Rabia succeeded Abu Faraj as operations chief.
Rabia was brought into al-Qaida by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's No. 2.
Like al-Zawahiri, Rabia is an Egyptian. U.S. officials have described him
recently as "top-five al-Qaida" and, as one US official said on Friday,
"killing him would be indeed a very big deal."

An intelligence official said U.S. help was involved in tracking Rabia down and
eliminating the threat that he embodied. That official also spoke on condition
of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media.

Rabia was the target of another Predator attack on Nov. 5, according to local
Pakistani officials. During that strike, in the village of Mosaki, eight people
were killed in what is now described as an unsuccessful attempt to kill Rabia.
Local officials have told NBC News that the dead included the wife and children
of the al-Qaida leader.

Both the village of Asorai, where Thursday's attack took place, and Mosaki,
where the November attack took place, are within 45 minutes of the
Pakistan-Afghanistan border. The area is a hiding place for top al-Qaida
officials, according to U.S., Pakistani and Afghan officials.

However, officials said they have no clue on the whereabouts of al-Zawahri or
Osama bin Laden.

Military officials have said hundreds of Arab, Afghan and Central Asian
militants are in North and South Waziristan.

Pakistan  a key ally of the United States in the war against terrorism  has
deployed thousands of troops in the area, fighting intense battles with
militants and killing and capturing several of them.

NBC News Investigative Producer Robert Windrem contributed to this report from
New York, with reporting by NBC News Producer Carol Grisanti in Pakistan. The
Associated Press and Reuters also contributed to the report.

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