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2004-03-29 Afghanistan/South Asia
’Senior al-Qaeda operative dead’
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Posted by Howard UK 2004-03-29 8:49:46 AM|| || Front Page|| [1 views since 2007-05-07]  Top

#1 I'm guessing we got Zawahri. Otherwise they wouldn't have tried to convince us he wasn't surrounded by airing a tape.
Posted by Charles  2004-03-29 9:07:00 AM||   2004-03-29 9:07:00 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Doubtful. There will follow a news blackout for four days while the Indian subcontinent focuses, quite rightly, upon the cricket.
Posted by Howard UK 2004-03-29 9:13:21 AM||   2004-03-29 9:13:21 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Rooters says it's Al Queda's 'spy chief', though no name is given.

So, it's not Zawahri.
Posted by JAB 2004-03-29 9:29:02 AM||   2004-03-29 9:29:02 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 Army spokesman Maj. Gen. Shaukat Sultan identified the intelligence chief only as Abdullah. When pressed for details, including Abdullah's full name and nationality, Sultan said he had no more information. Sultan said the army had confirmed Abdullah's death through "independent intelligence sources" but would not say if it had his body. Abdullah is a 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.

Unless they have a body, I wouldn't put much hope in it.
Posted by Steve  2004-03-29 9:48:48 AM||   2004-03-29 9:48:48 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Shouldn't be too hard to track down, how many terrorist leaders named Abdullah can there be around there?
Posted by Steve White  2004-03-29 10:15:51 AM||   2004-03-29 10:15:51 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 "Unless they have a body, I wouldn't put much hope in it."

brains... Brains.... BRAINS....

"Shouldn't be too hard to track down, how many terrorist leaders named Abdullah can there be around there?"

It could be worse; they could all be named Steve.
Posted by Phil Fraering 2004-03-29 10:19:20 AM|| [http://newsfromthefridge.typepad.com]  2004-03-29 10:19:20 AM|| Front Page Top

#7 OldSpook can you speak to this?
Posted by Shipman 2004-03-29 10:26:35 AM||   2004-03-29 10:26:35 AM|| Front Page Top

#8 A military spokesman identified the dead man as "Mr Abdullah", who, he said, was an intelligence chief.

Spokesman: "The person in question who died in our offensive was Mr. Abdullah Abdullah Abdullah...."
Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-03-29 10:32:54 AM||   2004-03-29 10:32:54 AM|| Front Page Top

#9 "...how many terrorist leaders named Abdullah can there be around there?..."

actually given the fact that Abdullah is a popular name (Mohammud the prophet's father was named Abdullah) and the fact that terrorists have a non de guerre in addition to their own name and the fact that false identities are common, it might be more difficult than you think to id the deceased
Posted by mhw 2004-03-29 10:36:27 AM||   2004-03-29 10:36:27 AM|| Front Page Top

#10 I think abdullah means...."some dude". abdullah abdullah abdullah is the same as "john q. public" or "john doe".

So, what we have here is a nameless dead dude, with a different colored turban than all the other dead dudes.
Posted by Texan 2004-03-29 11:38:12 AM||   2004-03-29 11:38:12 AM|| Front Page Top

#11 Standby for shameless speculation:

I think that the Pakis probably have some knowledge of what the AQ spy chief looks like. By Spy Chief, I don't think they are talking about international spying. This was the local interface who let every body important know when it was time to jump into the tunnel. Abdullah's infinite lunch break should be inconvenient for those on the run. It makes it more likely that they will try a border crossing.
Posted by Super Hose  2004-03-29 12:29:16 PM||   2004-03-29 12:29:16 PM|| Front Page Top

#12 If my speculation is correct than the fact that he "was killed" doesn't mean that the Pakis killed him. It could be that Abdullah received some very low marks on his most recent fitness report.
Posted by Super Hose  2004-03-29 12:33:37 PM||   2004-03-29 12:33:37 PM|| Front Page Top

#13 Just in from NBC, no conf.yet but it looks like the story is "firming up"
BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and news services
Updated: 12:27 p.m. ET March 29, 2004ISLAMABAD, Pakistan - An al-Qaida intelligence chief reported killed during a 12-day border offensive by Pakistani forces is believed to be one of the FBI’s “most wanted” terrorists and an architect of the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, senior U.S. officials told NBC News on Monday.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said they had no independent confirmation of the Pakistani claim that a “Mr. Abdullah” had been killed in the fierce fighting along the border with Afghanistan. But they said they believe that the person referred to by Pakistani authorities is Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who has been indicted on murder and conspiracy charges in connection with the simultaneous attacks on the U.S. embassies, which killed 224 people, including 12 Americans, and injured more than 5,400.


Posted by Evert Visser in NL  2004-03-29 1:10:50 PM|| [http://chinditz.buzznet.com/user/]  2004-03-29 1:10:50 PM|| Front Page Top

#14 ...the person referred to by Pakistani authorities is Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah ...

Hey Bomb-o-rama -- you were only one Abdullah off!
Posted by Steve White  2004-03-29 3:31:52 PM||   2004-03-29 3:31:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#15 Is it me or is much of the world just plain name lazy, witness Omar (just Omar), in a do-loop Butro Butros or just lacking in imagination Abdullah and yes Kim & Lee. Hell the local school system provides enough new first names in a year by 17 yr. olds to provide for a country the size of Pakistan.
Posted by Fransico Ponce de Leon Jaun Jose Maria Shipman 2004-03-29 3:40:11 PM||   2004-03-29 3:40:11 PM|| Front Page Top

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