Al Qaeda chemist likely target of US missile strike (Pakistan)

[sabra]

Source: Reuters

WANA, Pakistan, July 28 (Reuters) - A suspected U.S. missile strike on a Pakistani madrasa near the Afghan border killed six people on Monday, possibly including an al Qaeda chemical and biological weapons expert, Pakistani security officials said.

A senior Pakistani security official said Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Egyptian chemist regarded as one of al Qaeda's top bomb makers, could have been the target. Monday's pre-dawn attack blitzed a house close to a madrasa used by militants near Azam Warsak village, about 20 km (12 miles) west of Wana, the main town of the South Waziristan tribal region, a known hotbed of Taliban and al Qaeda support.

"We have heard that Abu Khabab al-Masri might have been killed in the strike but there's no confirmation as nobody could go there," a security official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

The 55-year-old al-Masri has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, and there have been reports of him being killed before.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SP152631.htm

[High Plains]

1. Ah, our ever-expanding imperial war continues apace.

We are now at war with the Pashtun nation, on both sides of the border. How nice.

[Doctor_J]

2. I love the smell of propaganda in the morning

I wish I could remember the exact moment I stopped believing anything I read.

[sabra]

3. here's my favorite line...

<snip>

The 55-year-old al-Masri has a $5 million U.S. bounty on his head, and there have been reports of him being killed before.

[ohio2007]

4. $5 million U.S. bounty ?

Who called it in ?
Oh,will it be paid out in $5miilion worth of livestock ?

Pakistan is claimig to be 'upset'

snip
We need to check whether this attack was the result of the heat of the battle in which any stray missile hit the Pakistani area," Tanvir Ahmed Khan, director-general of Pakistan's Strategic Institute told Adnkronos International (AKI).

"But if this is not the case and it was a pre-emptive strike based on some suspicions, it is a very grave message at a juncture when the Pakistani premier is visiting President Bush to discuss Pakistan's role in the US-led War on Terror."

snip
http://www.adnkronos.com/AKI/English/Security/?id=1.0.2372996731


oh, but they'll kep the 14 Falcons the US finished turning over today. Guess the message is "We'll take it from here"

[paparush]

5. Bush - Keeping the GLOBAL in the Global War on Terror

[ohio2007]

6. Exclusive: Al Qaeda No. 2 Injured? ( CBS thinks so )

CBS) Ayman al-Zawahiri - the second most powerful leader in al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden's No. 2 - may be critically wounded and possibly dead, CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan reports exclusively.

CBS News has obtained a copy of an intercepted letter from sources in Pakistan, which urgently requests a doctor to treat al-Zawahiri
snip

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/08/01/eveningnews/main4316193.shtml?source=RSSattr=World_4316193

Wonder if the ISI will allow him to move into the more 'civilized' parts of Pakistan to get treatment.

[pinniped]

7. Likely, suspected, possibly, could have been, might have been, this is bullshit propaganda,....

that's for sure.

Look, this guy's been killed before, just like al-Zarqawi. People were getting wise with AZ narrowly escaping with his life every single time, so they simply crossed his name off the playbook.

How many millions in rewards have been paid out for these alleged top terra dudes?

Zero? Zero? Zero? Zero?

Believe nothing from these fools.

[Thor_MN]

8. $5 million bounty. How much did the missle(s) cost?

Can it be proven that the 6 people killed were combatants? If not, isn't it murder?