Report: CIA strike in Pakistan killed suspect in African bombings

Jan 9, 2009, 6:09 GMT

   Washington - A January 1 strike from an unmanned CIA drone in Pakistan killed four top al-Qaeda operatives including a suspect in both last year's Islamabad hotel attack and the 1998 truck bombings against US embassies in Africa, the Washington Post reported on its website early Friday.

   The report cited US counter-terrorism officials with access to secret reports, speaking on condition of anonymity.

   Usama al-Kini, originally from Kenya, was among al-Qaeda suspects killed in a drone missile strike against a target in South Waziristan, in Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan, the officials said.        He was described as the terrorist network's chief of operations in Pakistan and is believed to have been the main planner of the 1998 Africa embassy bombings and the September attack on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad.

   Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, al-Kini's lieutenant, was also killed in the strike, the report said. Both were among the United States' most-wanted terrorism suspects, each listed with a reward of up to 5 million dollars for aid in their capture.