CNN Reporting airstrike in Pakistan May have killed al Qaeda’s number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri

BREAKING NEWS

Pakistan officials are checking if a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan killed al Qaeda’s number 2, Ayman al-Zawahiri, sources tell CNN

CNN is reporting that a CIA airstrike in Pakistan on a building that may have killed Osama bin Laden’s second in command Ayman al-Zawahiri. This is one missing persons case that we do not mind covering.

The building where Ayman al-Zawahiri was thought to be was in a small village near the Afghan border.

There has been no confirmation that al-Zawahiri was killed in the attack. However, sources say there was intelligence suggesting he was in the building at the time of the strike.

Pakistani officials were at the scene of the strike, trying to determine if Al-Zawahiri was killed.

These types of reports have been previously claimed. We will wait anxiously for the developing news of any possible confirmation.

According to ABC News, Forensic Tests to Reveal Fate of al Qaeda Number Two.

Today, according to Pakistani military sources, U.S. aircraft attacked a compound known to be frequented by high level al Qaeda operatives. Pakistani officials tell ABC News that al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant, may have been among them.

Local reports to ABC the following:

Villagers described seeing an unmanned plane circling the area for the last few days and then bombs falling in the early morning darkness.

Eighteen people were killed, according to the villagers who said women and children were among the fatalities.

But Pakistani officials tell ABC News that five of those killed were high-level al Qaeda figures, and their bodies are now undergoing forensic tests for positive identification.

Pakistani officials also went on to say:

that the bodies of the five suspected al Qaeda figures will be recovered at first light in Pakistan, but it will still take a day or two for any kind of positive identification. U.S. officials in Washington did not comment.

 MSNBC stating that predator drones fired as many as 10 missiles.

Pakistani officials say U.S. aircraft, apparently CIA Predator drones, fired as many as 10 missiles at the residential compound.

The attack came in the Bajur region of Northwest Pakistan, along the Afghanistan border.

The CIA Predators carry as many as four Hellfire missiles. Only last month, the CIA used a Predator to kill the No. 3 man in al-Qaida in a similar Hellfire strike in Pakistan.

Blogger covering the story:

• When it comes to the the war on terror always check out Rusty at the Jawa Report to see Zawahiri Dead!?!?!!!!!!!!

• Michelle Malkin with AL-ZAWAHIRI: DEAD OR ALIVE?
• The Counterterrorism Blog with CIA Targets Ayman al-Zawahiri in Pakistan
• The Moderate Voice, US Missile Strike in Pakistan
• Making Sense of Jihad; Over, Rover?
• The Gateway Pundit, Al Zawahiri, Al Qaeda #2, Targeted in Pakistan Attack

UPDATE: We do many missing person stories on Scared Monkeys all the time. Looks like the Independent Sources blog has one of their own. Make sure you take a look at their AMBERT ALERT and milk carton.

UPDATE (1/14/06 12:15 pm edt): Qaeda No.2 away during attack: Pakistan official (Reuters)

A U.S. airstrike on Pakistan village targeted al Qaeda’s second-in-command, U.S. intelligence sources say, but Pakistani officials said Ayman al-Zawahri was not there and condemned the attack.

“Al-Zawahri was not there at the time,” the official, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.

Al Arabiya satellite television said on Saturday Zawahri was alive, quoting a source which it said has contact with al Qaeda.

UPDATE: Zawahiri escapes by missing dinner visit

A dinner invitation to Al Qaeda’s second-in-command triggered a US airstrike in Pakistan but Ayman Al Zawahiri failed to show up, Pakistani intelligence officials said yesterday.

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