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Al-Qaeda meeting was being held in Damadola during airstrike
Pakistani authorities suspect that Al Qaeda operatives had gathered last week to plan attacks early this year in Afghanistan and Pakistan when the meeting was torn apart by a US missile strike, an intelligence official said on Friday. While four Al Qaeda leaders are suspected killed in the attack, several others survived and are believed to have escaped, the Pakistani official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the subject. Pakistani authorities have said that the January 13 attack in the village of Damadola, Bajaur Agency, had targeted Al Qaeda No 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahri, who was invited to the meeting, but failed to show. The blast killed 13 villagers, but Pakistani authorities believe at least four foreign militants died, possibly including an Al Qaeda explosives and chemical weapons expert and a relative, possibly the son-in-law of al-Zawahri. On Friday, the senior intelligence official said the Al Qaeda suspects had gathered to discuss ânew attacksâ in the coming months. The targets were believed to be in Afghanistan and Pakistan, he said. Several Al Qaeda militants are believed to have escaped either before or after the attack, including Abu Suleman, the official said. He declined to say how many survived or who else might have fled, only confirming earlier reports that al-Zawahri was not there. Little is known about Suleman, but Pakistani officials accuse him of plotting attacks in their country and say authorities narrowly missed capturing him in two raids in Peshawar, where a pro-Taliban provincial government is in power. Another official in Peshawar said two pro-Taliban local clerics, Faqir Muhammad and Liaqat Ali, had left their homes in Damadola with some other people hours before the attacks. The two clerics returned to the site after the attack, and apparently removed four or five bodies, said the official, adding that the bodies were later buried in an inaccessible area. Officials were still looking for the graves, he added.Posted by: Dan Darling 2006-01-21 |
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