CIA strike in Pakistan killed suspect in African bombings (Roundup)

Jan 9, 2009, 10:11 GMT

Washington/Islamabad - A January 1 strike from an unmanned CIA drone aircraft 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.

However, Pakistani intelligence and Taliban sources contradicted the report, insisting both al-Qaeda men were still alive.

The Washington Post 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.

A spokesman of Pakistan's Interior Ministry, Shahidullah Baig, refused to comment on the report. 'We are yet looking into it,' he told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

An intelligence official in South Waziristan told dpa local sources had informed him that both al-Kinai and Sweda were seen in the area after the January 1 attack. 'The al-Qaeda people Americans are talking about are alive,' said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

A local man who is a Taliban supporter and has good contacts with those who are sheltering the al-Qaeda operatives mentioned by the Washington Post in the Karikot area where the US drone attack took place insisted that 'these people are safe.'

'Only three people died in the January 1 attack and all three were Turkmen. They were newcomers to the area,' said the local man, who identified himself with the fictitious name Zaheer.