Posted on 05/14/2005 10:54:10 AM PDT by gandalftb
A senior al Qaeda operative was killed by a missile fired from a CIA Predator aircraft on the Pakistani side of the remote area near the Afghan border earlier this week, U.S. intelligence officials told ABC News.
The CIA refused to confirm or deny any operational matter.
Haitham al-Yemeni, a native of Yemen known for his bomb-making skills, had been tracked for some time in the hope that he would help lead the United States to al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, intelligence officials said. But with the recent capture in northwest Pakistan of Abu Faraj al-Libbi, thought to be al Qaeda's No. 3 man, officials worried al-Yemeni would soon go into hiding, and decided to take action.
Al-Yemeni was in line to replace al-Libbi, intelligence analysts said.
"It's an important step that has been taken in that it has eliminated another level of experienced leadership from the directorate of al Qaeda itself," said Vince Cannistraro, former head of counterterrorism for the CIA and now an ABC News consultant. "It will help weaken the organization and make it much less effective."
The CIA has the authority to fire at will against senior al Qaeda figures anywhere in the world, though it is unclear whether the Pakistanis approved of the action in advance. A spokesman for the Pakistani Embassy in Washington, D.C., said he was unaware of any such actions this week.
"There is a determination by the president that any member of al Qaeda that can be identified can be attacked," said Cannistraro.
This would be only the fourth known time the CIA Predator has opened fire on al Qaeda targets.
Most recently, six suspected terrorists, including Qaed Salim Sinan al-Harethi, a close associate of bin Laden, were killed in Yemen in November 2002 in an attack the Yemen government said it approved in advance.
Officials said that on two occasions the Predator has been used to attack individuals mistakenly thought to be bin Laden.
Strike "here", should be "hear", too much coffee.
While I agree,I'll bet they REALLY wanted to get their hands on this one to get him to"sing"!!!
I like this ..... CIA now is able to do both covert and clandestine operations..... and yes, there is a difference.
Take out enough heads and the body will die.
"CIA Predator aircraft "
Why does the MSM still refer to the pradator as a CIA aircraft when it is operated by the Air Force?
Just because it performs spying operations doesn't mean it is CIA. Stupid liberals.
Pakistan has no choice but to deny this attack occurred. If Musharraf admits it, he risks major internal strife at a time when tens of thousands are rioting over Michael Isakoff's Koran-flushing yellow journalism. America is not terribly popular over there right now because of that traitorous a$$hole.
I thought the CIA controlled a different type of Predator that was equipped with the Hellfire missile, while the Air Force controlled Predators were just used for military intelligence. I don't really know much about it though.
Where has O Bin been lately, no self glorifying tape from his sorry arse in quite some time?
Me thinks maybe the predators have been active for some time in Paki Land taking out terr perps, somebody just leaked this latest one.
CNN is carrying the story now.
CNN is saying that they have been following the guy for days hoping he would lead them to bin Laden. He was just rambling around so they snuffed him. Oops.
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