Predator Strike Killed Master Bombmaker
Al Qaeda, Midhat Mursi, Pakistan, War on Terror
The man who trained shoe-bomber Richard Reid, Zacharias Mousssaoui, hundreds of other terrorists, 52 year-old Midhat Mursi, also known as Abu Khabab al-Masri, was one of the Al Qaeda leaders present at last Friday’s meeting in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier tribal district, slain in a Predator-drone missile strike directed by US Intelligence operatives. The US government had been offering a $5 million reward for Mirsi’s capture.
Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden’s second-in-command, had been also been expected to be present at the targeted meeting, but is –so far– reported to have failed to attend.
ABC News report.
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Meanwhile, AP is offering a rather confusing story by Riaz Khan, describing Pakistani Intelligence searching for missing bodies of the terrorist victims of last Friday’s missile strike.
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Update
Reuters reports that Pakistani intelligence has identified two others of the slain terrorists. One was Abdul Rehman Al-Misri al Maghribi chief of al Qaeda’s media department, and a son-in-law of al Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri. The other was Abu Obaidah al Misri, al Qaeda’s chief of operations in Kunar province, Afghanistan. The presence of Zawahiri’s son-in-law tends to suggest that he was indeed scheduled to be present. The fourth deceased terorist has allegedly not yet been identified.
Hat tip to John Hinderaker.