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US missile, al-Qaida death bay be linked
(AP)
Updated: 2005-12-05 09:25 Rabia was involved in planning two assassination plots against Pakistani
President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, and "we believe he was involved in planning for
attacks against the United States," Hadley said.
Musharraf said Saturday it was "200 percent confirmed" that Rabia was killed.
The senior Pakistani intelligence official said the missile attack blew up a
stockpile of bomb-making materials, grenades and other munitions. Pakistan
Interior Minister Aftab Khan Sherpao said Rabia's two Syrian bodyguards also
died in the explosion.
Pakistani officials said Rabia's death was confirmed by DNA tests. But the
Dawn newspaper, citing officials it did not identify, said Saturday his body had
been retrieved by associates from outside Pakistan. Dawn also cited unnamed
sources saying the attack may have been launched from two pilotless planes.
Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed declined to comment on the report
about Rabia's remains but said there was "other information" besides the DNA
tests that confirmed his identity.
"He was a high-profile commander in the network. We were tracing him for the
last two years," Sherpao told The Associated Press on Sunday. "Naturally any
person killed in their hierarchy is a big blow for them."
Two U.S. counterterrorism officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity
because of the information's sensitivity, said Saturday that Rabia was believed
to be an Egyptian and head of al-Qaida's foreign operations, possibly as senior
as the No. 3 in the terrorist group, just below al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden
and his lieutenant, Ayman al-Zawahri. They are believed to be hiding in a rugged
area along Afghanistan's border with Pakistan.
Rabia's death would not enhance the prospect of catching either bin Laden or
al-Zawahri, according to another Pakistani intelligence official, who requested
anonymity because of the sensitive nature of his job. The official said
intelligence agents had no clue about the whereabouts of bin Laden or
al-Zawahri.
Rabia filled the vacuum created this year by the capture of the previous
operations chief, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the two U.S. officials said.
Rabia would have been responsible for training, recruiting, networking and,
most importantly, planning international terrorist activities outside the
Afghan-Pakistan region. He had a wide array of jihadist contacts, one official
said, and was believed to be trying to reinvigorate al-Qaida's operations.
One Pakistani intelligence official said Rabia had been the target of a Nov.
5 attack in the same area that killed eight people, but he managed to escape.
That attack initially was blamed on militants setting off bombs they were
making.
Miran Shah is a strategic tribal region where al-Qaida militants are believed
to be hiding and where Pakistani forces have launched several operations against
them.
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