Osama Bin Laden & Ayman Al-Zawahiri in happier days

A U.S. airstrike in Pakistan targeted al Qaeda’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, but it was unclear if he had been killed, CNN quoted U.S. sources as saying on Friday.

Zawahiri, an Egyptian, is described as the chief organizer of al Qaeda and al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s closest mentor. They met in the mid-1980s when both were in the northwestern Pakistani city of Peshawar to support mujahideen guerrillas fighting the Soviets in Afghanistan.

At this point there is no concrete evidence that he was among the dead and confirmation of who were killed will not be known for sure until forensic tests are completed on the bodies.

See the missing milk carton photo. (Update: Amber alert issued!)

What others were saying as we went to post:

Counterterroism Blog: “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.”

Malkin: AL-ZAWAHIRI: DEAD OR ALIVE?

Jawa Report: “So far, it looks like only ABC and CNN have been targeted for this leak, since all other sources seem to be citing them. (Hence, all the elements are in place for a grand MSM circle-jerk. Beware.)”

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

Update: He’s alive! Oh well.

Technorati: pakistan al-Zawahiri al-qaeda

This entry was posted on Friday, January 13th, 2006 at 9:37 pm by Insider and is filed under War. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.