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Pakistan may have killed al Qaeda official

Radio interceptions suggest death of top intelligence chief

Associated Press
March 30, 2004

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan _ Intercepted radio conversations indicate al Qaeda's top intelligence chief may have been killed in fighting in Pakistan, intelligence officials said Monday, but they admitted that no body has been found.

The radio transmissions disclosed that a man named Abdullah had been killed and that the death caused a great deal of distress among the al Qaeda forces, a Pakistani intelligence official said on condition of anonymity.

"He was a very important person for al Qaeda," the official said. He added that interrogations of suspected al Qaeda members led the Pakistanis to believe that Abdullah was the group's top intelligence official.

Pakistan's sweep through western tribal areas to root out suspected terrorists resulted in the deaths of 63 suspected militants and the arrest of 167, army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan said Monday.

Another member of Pakistani intelligence said the military was showing photos of Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah to captured militants, but that so far none had identified the photo. He said all available information was being shared with U.S. intelligence agencies.

Without a body -- and after earlier speculation that al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman al-Zawahri was cornered -- the officials were cautious about any conclusions, as many al Qaeda leaders use aliases.

Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who holds an Egyptian passport, was indicted for his alleged involvement in the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of the U.S. embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 231 people, including 12 Americans. He is on the FBI list of Most Wanted Terrorists and was known to have fled to Pakistan after the 1998 bombings.

Sultan said the army had confirmed Abdullah's death through "independent intelligence sources" but would not say whether they had his body. Abdullah is an extremely common name in the Islamic world, and it was impossible to know which of many al Qaeda and other terror suspects Sultan might be referring to.

The military declared the operation in South Waziristan over Sunday and claimed it was a success. But hundreds of militants were still at large, officials said. Uzbek terrorist leader Tahir Yuldash was reportedly wounded in the assault but escaped.

There were 73 foreigners among the 167 arrested. Sultan did not identify their nationalities, but security officials had said Uzbeks, Chechens and Arabs were among them.

Sultan said 46 troops were killed and 26 were wounded.

Villagers have begun returning to their homes after seeking shelter in Wana and other villages during the operation, when thousands of Pakistani forces battled hundreds of foreign and local militants.

Some angry tribesmen demanded compensation Monday for property they said was damaged and looted in the operation, Pakistan's biggest and bloodiest to flush out al Qaeda fugitives.

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