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Pakistan unable to confirm killing of Al-Qaeda leader

ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan government said it could not confirm that a top Al-Qaeda operative was among those killed in a missile strike in the North Waziristan tribal area of the country on Monday. Al Ekhlaas, an Al-Qaeda-affiliated Internet site, said Abu Laith al-Libi , a leading member of the group in Afghanistan, was killed, along with several other foreign militants, in the strike at Mirali.

Reports from the U.S. say there are strong indications that al-Libi (40) was among those killed.

The missile, said to have been fired from an unmanned drone similar to the one used by the U.S. forces operating in Afghanistan, hit a house in Khushali Torikhel, three km from Mirali, that was apparently being used by the militants as a hideout. The Pakistan military was silent about the strike.

Reports from the area said seven of those killed were Arabs, while five others were central Asian. Caretaker Interior Minister Lt. General Hamid Nawaz Khan (Retd.) said on Friday: “We cannot confirm al-Libi’s death because the militants had removed bodies from the site where the explosion happened and the security personnel did not find any corpse.”

The Libyan was suspected of masterminding the suicide bombing outside the Bagram airbase in Afghanistan that killed 23 persons during a visit by U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney last February.

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