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Reports: Bin Laden's No. 2 not in targeted village
 Osama bin Laden's right-hand man in the al Qaeda terrorist network -- was not killed in a CIA airstrike on a remote Pakistani village, according a Pakistani intelligence source.
Initially, U.S. sources said al-Zawahiri was the target of Friday's strike and may have been among the 18 killed. Pakistan's information minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmad told CNN on Saturday the government plans to summon the U.S. ambassador and "make a strong protest" over the bombing of the village of Damadola, near the Afghan border. The Associated Press quoted a senior Pakistani intelligence official as saying "our investigations conclude that they (the CIA) acted on a false information." Reuters also quoted a senior Pakistani official as saying: "Al-Zawahri was not there at the time of the attack."
| "Ayman! A drone just flew near the village and... Ayman?... Where'd you go?" |
The Pakistani government was expected to issue a statement later Saturday, AP reported. Both the Pentagon and the White House declined to comment on initial reports of the airstrike on Friday. Friday morning's strike killed eight men, five women and five children, Pakistani intelligence sources told CNN. Three homes were targeted. "We are conducting tests to identify the bodies," one intelligence official said.
Posted by: Oztralian 2006-01-14 |
