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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Airstrike targeted al-Qaida leaders


Al-Zawahiri
 (The Spokesman-Review)
Los Angeles Times

WASHINGTON – A U.S. airstrike on a suspected al -Qaida compound in remote Pakistan targeted Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command, U.S. officials said Friday, adding that they were investigating the possibility that the Egyptian militant had been killed.

The CIA and other U.S. counterterrorism agencies would not comment officially on speculation that Ayman al-Zawahiri was among a handful of suspected senior al-Qaida militants killed in the airstrike near the Afghan border early Friday. Nor would they say on the record whether U.S. warplanes or unmanned Predator drones had dropped precision-guided missiles onto suspected terrorist hideouts in the area, as reported by Pakistani officials and eyewitnesses.

The Pakistanis said at least 18 people were killed and six wounded in the attack.

One senior U.S. counterterrorism official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the information, said a compound that had been attacked was known to be frequented by al-Zawahiri and other high level al-Qaida operatives, and that Washington was told by Pakistani military sources that they believed al-Zawahiri might have been among those killed.

The official said U.S. authorities have been monitoring the location for months in the hope of striking at al-Zawahiri, and that Predator drones were sent in to kill him when intelligence indicated he was there.

The official said it was too early to tell if al-Zawahiri or any other significant al-Qaida operatives had been killed. But he said official reports out of Pakistan were encouraging, and that U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism authorities were viewing them with unusual optimism.

The official acknowledged that false reports of al-Zawahiri’s death have occurred from time to time. “There is something different about this one,” the official said. “This seems to have validity.”

It was the second such strike on targets inside Pakistan within a week. The incident came just days after Pakistan lodged a strong protest with U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, saying cross-border firing in the nearby Waziristan area last weekend killed eight people.

The U.S. counterterrorism officials said Washington was anxiously awaiting more information from Pakistan after daybreak Saturday. They said that depending on the condition of the bodies, it could take several days before they were positively identified.

An Egyptian doctor who was imprisoned in his native country for terrorism, al-Zawahiri has long been bin Laden’s chief aide and the spiritual head of al-Qaida. Al-Zawahiri has replaced bin Laden in recent years as the most visible public figure in al-Qaida, issuing videotaped statements criticizing the U.S. occupation of Iraq and calling on observant Muslims to fight in Iraq and elsewhere against U.S. and Western interests.

For years, al-Zawahiri and bin Laden were inseparable, according to several U.S. counterterrorism officials. But they are believed to have been separated for some time, in part to make it harder for their pursuers to kill them both at the same time.

The U.S. counterterrorism official said it was unlikely they were together Friday. “They have been separated. Not too far away, but separate,” the official said.

U.S. officials have long thought that bin Laden and al-Zawahiri, who fled Afghanistan after the U.S.-led war to oust the Taliban in 2001, were hiding along the rugged Afghan-Pakistani border. Other senior al-Qaida figures including Khalid Shaikh Mohamed, the organizer of the Sept. 11 attacks, have been captured or killed in Pakistan.

Many counterterrorism officials have said they believe that al-Qaida is now a much more decentralized organization than it was before Sept. 11, when it ran training camps in Afghanistan.

U.S. officials said killing al-Zawahiri would be the biggest success yet in Washington’s war on terrorism, but that it could also spark a backlash from al-Qaida sympathizers around the world.

“It would be huge, obviously,” the official said. “But we would be bracing for the ripple effect.”

Bin Laden has not been heard from publicly since December 2004, and some U.S. officials suspect that he might be incapacitated. Other U.S. authorities said they believe that al-Zawahiri has long been the true mastermind of al- Qaida.

Area residents and a member of parliament for the Bajaur region told reporters earlier Friday that that four U.S. aircraft entered Pakistani territory from Afghanistan at about 3 a.m. and attacked residential compounds in the village of Berkandi. The area borders Afghanistan’s Kunar province, where U.S.-led forces are battling Taliban and allied insurgents. The tribal area is about 70 miles north of Peshawar in northwest Pakistan.

“I saw four aircraft enter the area from Kunar province, which circled over the area for half an hour,” said resident Mohammed Rafiq, who was bringing patients to a local hospital. “The planes made several sorties and fired missiles, which caused loud explosions.”

Witnesses said 14 of the people killed in the blasts belonged to one family.

Haji Haroon Rashid, the legislator from Bajaur, said he witnessed the attack and alleged that a spy plane had been seen flying over the area for the last four days.

“I left my bed immediately after hearing the loud noise of planes,” he said. “Thousands of other people were also watching the aircraft overhead for half an hour, which fired nine missiles,” Haroon said. “They killed innocent children and women who have absolutely no connection with terrorism or any terrorist outfit.”

Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan, Pakistan’s military spokesman, said he did not know the cause of the blasts, but he confirmed they caused casualties.

“People heard explosions, and as a result, there were a number of casualties,” he said. “My information is that 11 to 14 people have been killed.”