MSNBC has a headline (with no story) that the US believes a top Al-Q guy has been killed. Anyone else find anything?
Here we go... not one of the names I was hoping for, but still very good... ____________ ‘Most wanted’ terrorist believed killed in Pakistan, U.S. officials say Slain al-Qaida spy chief is believed to be architect of 1998 U.S. embassy bombings ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - An al-Qaida intelligence chief reported killed during a 12-day border offensive by Pakistani forces is believed to be one of the FBI’s “most wanted” terrorists and an architect of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, senior U.S. officials told NBC News on Monday. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had no independent confirmation of the Pakistani claim that a “Mr. Abdullah” had been killed in the fierce fighting along the border with Afghanistan. But they said they believe that the person referred to by Pakistani authorities is Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who has been indicted on murder and conspiracy charges in connection with the simultaneous attacks on the U.S. embassies, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injured more than 5,400. The officials spoke hours after Pakistan Army spokesman Maj.-Gen. Shaukat Sultan announced in Islamabad that an al-Qaida intelligence chief, whom he identified only as “Mr. Abdullah,” had been killed in the border operation. He would not provide further details, such as the man’s nationality, full name or how and when he was killed. If the dead man is confirmed to be Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah it would represent a major achievement in the U.S.-led "war on terror." The U.S. government’s Rewards for Justice program has been offering a $25 million reward for information leading to Abdullah’s capture. The FBI’s Web site states that Abdullah is believed to have fled from Nairobi, Kenya, on Aug. 6, 1998, the day after the bombings in Nairobi and Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and traveled to Karachi, Pakistan, and then on to Afghanistan. Sultan said Pakistani troops had killed 63 militants and captured 163 — 73 foreigners among them — in the raid on the semi-autonomous South Waziristan tribal territory bordering eastern Afghanistan that ended on Sunday. He also said a wounded senior Uzbek al-Qaida leader, Tahir Yuldashev, was on the run. He said Yuldashev was the 10th most senior member of al-Qaida and was now hiding somewhere along the Afghan border. Hostages freed The military claimed victory after securing the release of 12 paramilitary troops taken hostage soon after fighting began on March 16, but it acknowledged that about 50 soldiers were killed and an unknown number of fighters escaped, possibly through a labyrinth of tunnels. “We have broken down and dismantled a hardened net of miscreants,” said Sultan. “Where they have dispersed we are keeping an eye on them.” But 500-600 suspected militants still may be hiding along the border with Afghanistan, Brig. Mahmood Shah, the regional security chief, said Sunday. The army would continue using a combination of military operations and talks with tribal leaders to rid the region of suspected al-Qaida forces and allies, Shah said. A dozen civilians, mostly women and children, are also believed dead. About 10,000 Mahsud tribesmen met Sunday near Wana to help authorities track the perpetrators of an attack on an army convoy last week. Pakistan's president, Gen. Pervez Musharraf, a key ally of the United States, has sent 70,000 troops to the border with Afghanistan since the Sept. 11 attacks to prevent cross-border attacks — the first such deployment since independence from Britain in 1947. U.S. forces are hunting on the other side of the mountainous border in a pincer operation. Militants linked to al-Qaida are widely believed to be behind bomb blasts in Madrid earlier this month that killed 190.
I thought this line from Clarke on Meet the Press was interesting... ________________ "We're going to catch bin Laden. I have no doubt about that. In the next few months, he'll be found dead or alive.'
Well, they finallly caught Abdullah the Butcher? Good, his reign of terror is over, no longer will he be able to bring foreign objects into the ring in a bloody spectacle.
I always loved to see his matches. They were almost as bloody as the ones featuring The Road Warriors. This was the first image I found of them on Google. It looks great for a caption contest. "Squeeze my nipples harder, you BEAST!"
great news. too bad the C-Team (Clinton, Cohen, and Clarke) didn't find these attacks sufficiently actionable to do something about in 1998.
It is good news, and Clinton's team did in fact issue an order to kill Bin Laden, that doesn't sound like doing nothing to me.
character attacks against clarke....not working....rice on sixty minutes....disappointment....clarke cleaning up on sunday morning circuit....book bestseller...condi won't testify....must redouble efforts...
i just love the irony of this situation in pakistan. sending thousands of your own troops to kill and capture people that you funded, supported, armed, trained or at the least associated with for years in your quest to "free" kashmir from india. and referring to these people now as "militants" and "terrorists", when for years you referred to them as "freedom fighters".
Well,, when you run a nuclear bombmaking bazaar out of your country you have to do a little penance...
