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Photo: Reuters
(Archive photo)
Photo: Reuters

'U.S. assassinated al-Qaeda commander'

Abu Hamza Rabia killed after missile explodes in north Pakistan; according to reports, CIA launched missile, killing another four people

An al-Qaeda commander ranked among the top five in Osama bin Laden's network was killed in a tribal region of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday.

 

Abu Hamza Rabia, defined as "number three in al-Qaeda," was killed Thursday after a missile was launched by CIA officers at his hideout in north Pakistan, the NBC television network reported Saturday, quoting Pakistani sources.

 

Musharraf, arriving in Kuwait on an official visit, confirmed Rabia had been killed.

 

"Yes indeed, 200 percent. I think he was killed the day before yesterday if I'm not wrong," Musharraf told reporters.

 

While officials said the blast was caused by explosives stored in the house for bomb-making, residents said a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle fired rockets into the house at a village near Mir Ali in the tribal agency.

 

They added that parts of the missiles were found in the area, providing evidence that the missiles were American.  

 

Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, also in Kuwait, denied Rabia was killed during a military operation.

 

"He's head of the international operations of al Qaeda. He was very important in al Qaeda. He was maybe Number Three or Five," the minister told Reuters. 

 

Rabia, operational commander of al-Qaeda, was among five gunmen killed in an explosion at the house where they were hiding in the North Waziristan tribal region.

 

The daily Pakistani newspaper Dawn said that Rabia, an Egyptian, was of the same rank as Abu Faraj Farj al Liby, who was dubbed by the United States as al Qaeda's third-most important leader after he was captured in Pakistan last May.

 

Dawn reported that Rabia's body was not recovered from the ruins, but was taken away by his comrades, along with the bodies of two other foreign militants.

 

Intelligence officials told Reuters that Rabia was using the alias 'Nawab', and they subsequently intercepted a message passed between militants saying Nawab was dead.

 

Rabia headed the foreign affairs department of Osama bin Laden's militant group, according to officials.

 

Dawn said Rabia escaped an attack by Pakistani security forces on November 5 in the same region. However, eight people, including his wife and children, were killed in that operation.

 

Ynet reporters contributed to the report

 


פרסום ראשון: 12.03.05, 14:11
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