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Al-Qaida's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri warned of "traitors" among insurgents in Iraq and called on Iraqi Sunni Arab tribes to purge those who help the Americans in a new videotape posted Monday on the Web. Al-Zawahri's comments were aimed at undermining so-called "awakening councils" — the groups of Iraqi Sunni tribesmen that the U.S. military has backed to help fight al-Qaida in Iraq and its allies. Some Sunni insurgent groups have fought alongside American forces, and the U.S. military has touted the councils as a major factor in reducing violence in war-torn regions like Iraq's Anbar province. In the 90-minute...

Al-Qaida's No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said in a new video posted Monday that the United States is trying to hide its failures in Iraq and warned that the mujahedeen there are increasing in strength. "We are seeing a triple failure for the Americans in Iraq," al-Zawahri said in the 90-minute videotape. "No matter how much the gigantic propaganda machine in America tries to deceive the people, the reality is stronger and worse than all the deceptions." He said U.S. forces were "defeated and looking for a way out," and Iraqi forces were unable to keep security. Al-Zawahri denounced Sunni Arab...

WASHINGTON — Secure in its haven in northwestern Pakistan, a resurgent Al Qaeda is trying to expand its network, in some cases by executing corporate-style takeovers of regional Islamic extremist groups, according to U.S. intelligence officials and counter-terrorism experts. Though not always successful, these moves indicate a shift in strategy by the terrorist network as it seeks to broaden its reach and renew its ability to strike Western targets, including the United States, officials and experts say. "Certainly we do see Al Qaeda trying to influence the broader movement and to control some of these affiliates in a more direct...

Bin Laden sidelined as al-Qaeda threat revives By Tim Shipman in Washington Last Updated: 1:29am BST 16/09/2007 Osama bin Laden's deputy has seized control of al-Qaeda and rebuilt the terror network into an organisation capable of launching complex terror attacks in Britain and America. Al-Qaeda leadership Intelligence officials have told The Sunday Telegraph that bin Laden has not chaired a meeting of al-Qaeda's ruling shura, or council, in more than two years. Instead, Ayman al-Zawahiri, bin Laden's nominal number two, is credited with rebuilding the terror network since the Afghan war in 2001. Intelligence sources in Washington have revealed that...

“Al-Qaeda Stronger than Ever.” “U.S. Concern at Al-Qaeda Strength.” These and similar titles accompanied news stories that began breaking during the second week of July, announcing leaks of a disturbing new classified intelligence report. Prepared for President Bush by the National Counter Terrorism Center (NCTC), the five-page report entitled Al-Qaeda Better Prepared to Strike the West paints a picture of a revived, more dangerous terror network led by Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. The Associated Press reported on July 11 that an unnamed counterterrorism official familiar with the still-unreleased report paraphrased the briefing paper as finding that al-Qaeda is...

What occupies the mind of a jihad-driven Muslim? How is such fervor planted in young and impressionable believers? Where does it originate? How did I—once an invernocent child who grew up in a liberal, moderate and educated household—find myself a member of a radical Islamic group? These questions go to the root of Islamic violence and must be addressed if free societies are to combat radical Islam. To further this aim, I will explore the psychological development of a jihadi’s mind through my own first-hand experience as a former member of a Muslim terrorist organization. I was born in Cairo...

Al-Qaeda second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahiri said on Tuesday the group is preparing a "precise response" to Britain's decision to bestow a knighthood on author Salman Rushdie. "I say to (Britain's Queen) Elizabeth and (former British Prime Minister Tony) Blair that your message has reached us and we are in the process of preparing for you a precise response," Zawahiri said in an audio recording posted on an Internet website often used by Islamic militants.

'Al-Qa'eda will punish UK for Rushdie award' By Philip Johnston, Home Affairs Editor. Last Updated: 7:57pm BST 10/07/2007 Osama bin Laden’s second in command has issued a warning that Britain faces fresh terror attacks as a "punishment" for the knighthood bestowed on Salman Rushdie. Ayman al-Zawahiri helped mastermind the September 11 attacks in the US The threat - addressed directly to Gordon Brown - came in a 20-minute audio-tape posted on jihadi websites by Ayman al-Zawahiri. He threatened "a very precise response" in retaliation against Britain for having knighted the controversial novelist in the Queen’s Birthday Honours last month. Intelligence...

“U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ‘05.” So blared the top headline of Sunday’s New York Times. Breathlessly, correspondent Mark Mazzetti reported that reliable intelligence had Ayman al-Zawahiri coming to a meeting in Pakistan’s tribal region. Special-ops forces got all geared up to take him out. Everything was in place to do just that. Then, at the eleventh hour, Donald Rumsfeld got cold feet. Too risky, the Defense secretary is said to have decided. Too much potential for collateral damage, U.S. casualties, and a jolt to America’s complex relationship with the shaky Musharaff government. So, the Times...

U.S. Aborted Raid on Qaeda Chiefs in Pakistan in ’05 By MARK MAZZETTI WASHINGTON, July 7 — A secret military operation in early 2005 to capture senior members of Al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal areas was aborted at the last minute after top Bush administration officials decided it was too risky and could jeopardize relations with Pakistan, according to intelligence and military officials. The target was a meeting of Al Qaeda’s leaders that intelligence officials thought included Ayman al-Zawahri, Osama bin Laden’s top deputy and the man believed to run the terrorist group’s operations. But the mission was called off...

When Your Doctor is a Muslim: Medical Terrorism Comes to America By Debbie Schlussel www.debbieschlussel.com May 17, 2007 Sometimes--so many times--diversity is not what it's cracked up to be. Just ask Joseph Applebaum. Well, you could ask him. But you won't get an answer. He's dead. And he's dead because he was a Jew, and his doctor is a Muslim and grad of "Ayman Al-Zawahiri" Medical School. But Applebaum wasn't denied treatment for being a Jew in Egypt. Or elsewhere in the Muslim world. It happened right here on U.S. soil. In Chicago. As Muslim doctors continue to flood into...

Al-Qaida is aggressively recruiting black Americans for suicide operations against the homeland, say FBI analysts who have reviewed recent videotaped messages from the terror group's leaders. A speech released May 5 by Osama bin Laden's deputy confirms earlier fears that African-Americans are the No. 1 recruiting target for the next generation of attacks. Al-Qaida has been trying to lower its Arab profile to reduce the odds that its terror cells will be subjected to security scrutiny. "Federal and local law enforcement authorities should be aware that al-Qaida terrorists may not appear Arab," warns a recent Homeland Security intelligence report obtained...

One of the reasons my writings would tend to be seen as "racist" in contemporary terms is that I don't speak only of defending "America," I sometimes, depending on context, speak of defending "white America"; and I don't speak just of my fear for the future of "Western civilization," I also speak of my concern for "white Western civilization." The racial character of European and British civilization and its overseas extensions is simply a historic fact. Without the white race and its distinct sub-groups and their particular characteristics and cultures, there would have been no Greece, there would have been...

Anticipation building among the jihadis...

Ayman al-Zawahiri Says Al Qaeda Wants to Spill More U.S. Blood Before America Leaves In a new video posted today on the Internet, al Qaeda's number two man, Ayman al Zawahiri, mocks the bill passed by Congress setting a timetable for the pullout of U.S. troops in Iraq. "This bill will deprive us of the opportunity to destroy the American forces which we have caught in a historic trap," Zawahiri says in answer to a question posed to him an interviewer. Continuing in the same tone, Zawahiri says, "We ask Allah that they only get out of it after losing...

<p>Document http://www.ctc.usma.edu/aq/AFGP-2002-601693-Trans.pdf which is still up on the Harmony Data Base website is a captured Al Qaeda document in Afghanistan and shows without any doubt that Aymen Al Zawahiri who is the Bin Deputy and the so called “Al Qaeda Brain” had visited Iraq as well as he had visited Iran. The document does not indicate which year he did the visit but it is for sure after the year 1995 based on the context of the document. Other reporting from different sources said that there is an indication that Zawahiri visited Iraq in 1998, and this document confirms that he indeed visited Iraq. The document refers to him as Aymen but it is very clear he is Aymen Al Zawahiri because document mentioned that Aymen was the leader of Jihadists in Peshwar Pakistan and indeed Aymen Al Zahiri left Egypt in 1985 after his release from prison and went to Peshawar Pakistan to organize and lead some islamic terrorists there.</p>

London, Asharq Al-Awsat- High ranking Al Qaeda member, Mohammad Hasan Khalil al-Hakim has revealed that the terrorist group's second in- command Ayman Al-Zawahiri has not used any forms of modern communication such as telephones (land lines or wireless), e-mails or the Internet for over four years, regardless of the severity of his circumstances. The wanted terrorist attributed Al-Zawahiri's reluctance to using modern forms of communication technology to the on-going security crack down as a part of the international war on terrorism. In a statement received by Asharq Al-Awsat yesterday, Al-Hakim also denied that Al-Qaeda was collaborating with the recently detained...

Looking for a new home in IraqKARACHI - Having solidified its leadership and opened up financial lifelines, al-Qaeda is preparing for its next major step - establishing a new base in the heart of the Middle East, Iraq. This will position al-Qaeda to step up attacks on Europe in an effort to force Western countries to cut their strategic alliances with Washington, and to serve as a nerve center to bring new al-Qaeda groups into action in the Arab world. According to people familiar with al-Qaeda's thinking who spoke to Asia Times Online, Osama bin Laden's deputy and the group's...

DUBAI - Al-Qaida second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri warned Americans of a reprisal "far worse than anything they have seen" if Washington did not change its policies toward Muslim states. "You are facing the Islamic rage ... what awaits you, should you press on (with current policies), is far worse than anything you have seen," Zawahri said in a video posted on the Internet on Wednesday. Leaders of the militant group which carried out the Sept. 11, 2001 aircraft attacks against U.S. cities often argue that its "terrorism" is justified as a way to change pro-Israel U.S. policies and to punish Washington...

Al-Qaeda deputy 'mocks Bush plan' Al-Qaeda's deputy leader has mocked US President George W Bush's plan to increase Iraq troop numbers in a video message, according to a US website. In the tape, apparently intercepted by US-based terrorism think-tank Site, Ayman al-Zawahiri challenged Mr Bush to send "the entire army" to Iraq. The Iraqi insurgents would "bury 10 armies like yours", he said. Earlier this month, Mr Bush announced the deployment of over 20,000 more troops in a bid to end the violence.

A Web video of Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, surfaced Thursday and called on Muslims throughout the Middle East to wage a jihad against Ethiopian forces occupying Somalia. "You have to use ambushes and mines, and raids and suicidal attacks until you rend and eat your prey as the lion does with his prey," al-Zawahiri declared. The statement was part of a five-and-a-half minute video produced by the terrorist group's multimedia arm as-Sahab. In the video titled "Set Out and Support Your Brothers in Somalia," and translated by the SITE Institute, Zawahiri is seen in a still image...

Al-Qaida leader calls moderate Arabs 'traitors'http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.world31dec31,0,4421031.story?coll=bal-attack-headlines CAIRO, Egypt // The deputy leader of al-Qaida accused moderate Arab leaders of being traitors for cooperating with the United States in a message posted on the Internet yesterday to mark the most important Islamic holiday. Ayman al-Zawahri's wished the Palestinian people a happy Eid al-Adha, but lashed out at moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his Fatah movement. "Those who had sold Palestine, the secular traitors, cannot be your brothers. Do not recognize their legitimacy. ... And don't sit with them," al-Zawahri said in a 15-minute audiotape message that was posted on a...

Al Qaeda has sent a message to leaders of the Democratic party that credit for the defeat of congressional Republicans belongs to the terrorists. In a portion of the tape from al Qaeda No. 2 man, Ayman al Zawahri, made available only today, Zawahri says he has two messages for American Democrats. "The first is that you aren't the ones who won the midterm elections, nor are the Republicans the ones who lost. Rather, the Mujahideen -- the Muslim Ummah's vanguard in Afghanistan and Iraq -- are the ones who won, and the American forces and their Crusader allies are...

A new tape from al Qaeda's No. 2 Ayman al Zawahri takes a distinctly less threatening tone and may reflect an attitude that victory in Iraq and Afghanistan is near. The portions of the tape aired today by al Jazeera Television contain no threats towards the West. Instead, al Zawahri focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and talks about the rules for establishment of an Islamic state. "It should not be imagined that Muslims can form a government in Palestine or elsewhere that has anything other than the Shari'a [Islamic law] as its jurisdiction. Its point of authority must be nothing...

Al-Azwahiri declares Jihad on Palestine? Is he for Hamas or Fatah? Dec. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Al-Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, urged Palestinians to reject elections and wage Islamic holy war to ``liberate Palestine,'' warning that attempts to form a national unity government will fail. ``Any road other than jihad will only lead to loss and failure,'' al-Zawahiri said in a videotaped message broadcast today on the Qatar-based al-Jazeera television channel. ``Anyone trying to liberate the land of Islam through elections based on secular constitutions or on decisions to surrender Palestine to the Jews will not free a grain...

Dr. Tawfik Hamid doesn't tell people where he lives. Not the street, not the city, not even the country. It's safer that way. It's only the letters of testimony from some of the highest intelligence officers in the Western world that enable him to move freely. This medical doctor, author and activist once was a member of Egypt's Al-Gama'a al-Islamiyya (Arabic for "the Islamic Group"), a banned terrorist organization. He was trained under Ayman al-Zawahiri, the bearded jihadi who appears in Bin Laden's videos, telling the world that Islamic violence will stop only once we all become Muslims. He's a...

PESHAWAR, PAKISTAN — A strike by a U.S. Predator drone in Pakistan's tribal areas in January missed al-Qaida's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahiri, by just two hours, an intelligence official here says, revealing that the hunt for al-Qaida's leaders had come much closer to killing him than was previously thought. Al-Zawahiri left a dinner in the village of Damadola at 10:30 on the night of Jan. 12, with a local supporter, Maulavi Liaqat, an intelligence official with knowledge of the incident said. The house where they had eaten was hit at 12:30 that night. At the time, amid an angry...

Hearts and Minds of the Umma By Alan Caruba CNSNews.com Commentary October 14, 2005 "We must repeat what we mentioned previously, that the majority of Muslims don't comprehend this and possibly could not even imagine it. For that reason, many of your Muslim admirers amongst the common folk are wondering about your attacks on the Shia. The sharpness of this questioning increases when the attacks are on one of their mosques...this matter won't be acceptable to the Muslim populace."Ayman al-Zawahiri is Osama bin Laden's closest adviser. On July 9 he penned a 13-page letter to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, known to...

Al-Zawahri: Bush a liar in war on terror By BASSEM MROUE, Associated Press Writer 19 minutes ago Osama bin Laden's deputy described President Bush as a "deceitful liar" in a new video statement and called a U.N. resolution to send peacekeepers into Sudan's war-torn Darfur region a "Crusader plan," imploring the Muslims of Darfur to defend themselves. "Can't you be honest at least once in your life, and admit that you are a deceitful liar who intentionally deceived your nation when you drove them to war in Iraq?" al-Qaida No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri said. Al-Zawahri also criticized Bush for continuing...

Al-Qaeda's number two has called US President George W Bush a "liar" who has failed in his war against the network, al-Jazeera TV channel says. Ayman al-Zawahiri is said to have made the remarks in a video on the internet. It comes after a video released for the anniversary of 9/11, in which Zawahiri said Western forces were doomed to defeat in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Egyptian militant is seen as the group ideologue. He has eluded capture despite a $25m bounty on his head. "Bush you are a lying failure and a charlatan," Zawahiri was quoted as saying by...

Al-Zawahri: Gulf, Israel next targets (AP) http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060911/ap_on_re_mi_ea/sept11_videoCAIRO, Egypt - Osama bin Laden, Israel would be al-Qaida's next targets, according to a new videotape aired by Arab broadcaster Al-Jazeera on Monday, the fifth anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks.

American greases al-Qaida media machineL.A.-born Adam Gadahn helps terrorists in bid to recruit Western operatives Globalterroralert.comAdam Gadahn, aka "Azzam the American," stepped out of the shadows in his most recent al-Qaida communique.

CAIRO, Egypt — An American who allegedly joined Al Qaeda appeared in a videotape along with the terror group's deputy leader on Saturday, calling on Americans to covert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars. The 48-minute video, posted on an Islamic militant Web site, had footage of Al Qaeda's number two, Ayman al-Zawahiri and of Adam Yehiye Gadahn, a 28-year-old American who the FBI believes attended Al Qaeda training camps in Pakistan and served as an Al Qaeda translator. It was the second time Gadahn has appeared in the same video...

CAIRO, Egypt - An American thought to be an al-Qaida activist appeared in a videotape with the terror group's deputy leader Saturday and called on his countrymen to convert to Islam and for U.S. soldiers to switch sides in the Iraq and Afghan wars. The 48-minute video, posted on an Islamic militant Web site, had footage of al-Qaida's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, and of Adam Yehiye Gadahn, a 28-year-old American who the FBI believes attended al-Qaida training camps in Pakistan and served as an al-Qaida translator. It was the second time Gadahn appeared in the same video with al-Zawahri....

Intelligence analysts are urging a heightened awareness by citizens of the US and Canada, especially within the transportation sectors, schools, and in locations beyond those cities commonly named as potential targets of al Qaeda attacks. 1 September 2006: In classic al Qaeda fashion, As Sahab Productions, the media (propaganda) arm of al Qaeda announced yesterday that a new video featuring the terror group's second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahiri along with Adam Gadahn, also known as Azzam the American (or Azzam al-Amriki), will be released shortly. The message, reportedly titled "An Invitation to Islam" is causing concern among intelligence analysts in the United...

PESHAWAR, Aug 18: A son-in-law of Al Qaeda No 2 Dr Ayman Al-Zawahiri is believed to be the mastermind of the plot to blow up transatlantic flights and he met one or some of the plotters at a place close to the Pakistan-Afghan border, credible sources told Dawn. “The mastermind in the planes bombing plot is Zawahiri’s son-in-law,” said the sources who did not want to be named. “He is the guy being looked for,” they added. Osama bin Laden’s top lieutenant is known to have several sons-in-law. One of them was reported to have been killed in a...

By ROBERT BURNS, AP Military Writer 38 minutes ago WASHINGTON - A U.S. military search of the destroyed safehouse where Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed yielded documents and information storage devices that are being assessed for potential use against his terror network, a military officer said Friday. The officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity because results from the safehouse search have not been announced, said an M-16 rifle and an unspecified number of grenades and AK-47 rifles also were found. The M-16 was fitted with special optics, the official said.Also found were "media and documents," the officer said,...

LONDON – Britain's secret intelligence service, MI6, has established the first proof al-Qaida is playing a major role in the new Cold War between North and South America – with Osama bin Laden's terror network seeing itself in league with Mexican subversives in infiltrating the U.S. border. The evidence emerged as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez swash-buckled into London after scoring a win in yet another venomous battle with Washington for influence and economic advantage across the Latin American continent. Chavez is in London to meet the capital's anti-Bush mayor, Ken Livingstone, and other prominent British opponents of the war in...

Al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri praised insurgents in Iraq – particularly Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi - and called on all Muslims to support them in a video posted Thursday on the internet. He called on Muslims to support his "beloved brother" Al-Zarqawi, who heads al-Qaeda in Iraq. "I have lived with him up close, and have seen nothing but good from him," Al-Zawahri said. Bush, son of Bush, eliminating Israel is the duty of every believer," Al-Zawahri said. "Beggarly clerics ... and every bankrupt propaganda machine is trying to convince the people to bring change by peaceful means, but...

Al-Qaida Figure Backs Iraqi Insurgents Top al-Qaida Figure Ayman Al-Zawahri Urges Support for Iraqi Insurgents in Video The Associated Press (snipped) CAIRO, Egypt - No. 2 al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri praised insurgents in Iraq, particularly Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and called on all Muslims to support them in a video posted Thursday on the Internet. The video was dated with an Islamic month corresponding to November 2005 and al-Zawahri mentions an Oct. 23 earthquake that hit Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it appeared to be the first time the 28-minute video has been made public. It was not clear why the video...

An FBI informant testified Monday in Sacramento federal court that al-Qaida’s second-in-command, Ayman al-Zawahri, lived in Lodi during parts of 1998 and 1999. Naseem Khan, who is a critical prosecution witness in the trials of two Lodi men charged with having terrorist ties, testified he was living in Lodi in 1998 and 1999 and "every time I would go to the mosque (al-Zawahri) would be coming or going" from the mosque. Khan said al-Zawahri, known to the FBI as Osama bin Laden’s personal physician and top adviser, "disappeared" sometime in 1999.

Per a FoxNews Alert: New tape shows Zawahiri threatening attacks against the U.S. because of the Mohammed cartoons. Mention was made of "another 9-11, another Madrid." The tape appears to be authentic, according to Fox. No link yet.

AL-QAEDA'S deputy leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, called US President George W.Bush the "Butcher of Washington" and mocked the US as a failure in the war on terrorism in a videotape broadcast yesterday on the al-Jazeera television network. Wearing white robes and a white turban and speaking in a forceful and angry voice, Zawahiri rebuked the Bush administration for rejecting Osama bin Laden's offer of a "decent exit from your dilemma" in an audiotape he released on January 19. In a message to Americans, Zawahiri said: "Your leaders, who are keen to accumulate wealth, insist on throwing you into battle and killing...

Al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri has called on US President George W Bush to convert to Islam. "Ayman Zawahiri called on President George W Bush to convert to Islam in the video recording received by Al-Jazeera," said the channel's presenter. "If you obey, you will be a brother in religion and God will pardon the past," she cited Zawahiri as saying in the tape broadcast on Monday. Al-Jazeera did not broadcast excerpts of this passage from the tape, but said the full recording would be made available on its website. In the excerpts broadcast by Al-Jazeera, Zawahiri said he survived...

Al Qaeda's Ayman al-Zawahiri, in videotape on Al-Jazeera, says U.S. airstrike against him in Pakistan failed.

A TAPE recorded by Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama Bin Laden’s deputy, was released on the internet this weekend as new details emerged of an American attempt to kill him in an airstrike on a remote Pakistani border village. In the recording Zawahiri praises the actions of Islamic fighters in Afghanistan. The CIA confirmed its authenticity, but was unable to say when it had been made. Its release appears to be part of a fresh Al-Qaeda propaganda offensive to show that the organisation has not been harmed by the American attack on Damadola village near the Afghan border on January 13. when...

IRAQ’S most wanted man, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, goes to sleep every night wearing a suicide belt packed with explosives, according to a leading insurgent who met him two weeks ago. “He never takes it off,” said Sheikh Abu Omar al-Ansari, leader of a Sunni resistance group called Jeish al-Taiifa al-Mansoura (Army of the Victorious Sect). “He told me: ‘I would rather blow myself up and die as a martyr — and kill a few Americans along the way — than be arrested and humiliated by them’.” His account, passed to The Sunday Times by a reliable intermediary, is the first...

A former senior officer of the U.S. Special Forces, who spoke to ABC News on condition that his identity be concealed and his voice disguised, said one reason for the failure to decapitate al Qaeda was that the U.S. military bureaucracy got in the way. "We can't act quickly enough," the officer said. "And that is a geographic or a structural problem, but it's also a bureaucratic problem because you got too many layers." He added that top al Qaeda leaders and other so-called high-value targets — such as al Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri and Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed...

PESHAWAR, Pakistan Jan 21, 2006 — A captured al-Qaida leader told interrogators that he and the terror group's second in command met last year at the same home hit by a U.S. missile strike last week, Pakistani intelligence officials said Saturday. Ayman al-Zawahri, the al-Qaida No. 2, was the apparent target of the Jan. 13 attack but apparently was not at the home when it and two other residences in the town near the Afghan border were destroyed by U.S. missiles.

KABUL, Jan. 19 (Xinhuanet) -- The second-in-command of the al-Qaida network, Ayman Al-Zawahiri, has escaped the recent missile attack and alive, a Kabul-based English newspaper reported Thursday. "Shikh Zawahiri is alive. Rumors about his death is baseless," daily Outlook quoted an al-Qaida operative Ahmad Suliman as saying. Reports emanated from Pakistan and the United States last week claimed the killing of Al-Zawahiri in missile attacks last week in Pakistan's Bajuwar agency tribal area. The missile attack, reportedly conducted by a U.S. army drone, left 18 people including women and children dead, according to Pakistani sources. It has prompted Islamabad to...