Press Interpreter

05/14/05 -- An Aljazeera correspondent in Pakistan, relying upon tribal sources there, reported that a prominent member of the al-Qaeda organization was killed within the past few days, when an American spy plane targeted him with a rocket within one of the tribal regions of Pakistan.

It is alleged that this leader was Haitham al-Yemeni, whom American advisories today said was killed by American intelligence a few days ago after having been observed for a while in the hope that he would lead them to Osama bin Laden, the head of the al-Qaeda organization.

The advisories added that American intelligence decided to kill al-Yemeni after having recently arrested Abu Faraj al-Libbi, whom they believe to be al-Qaeda’s "Third-in-Charge," for fear that al-Yemeni might go into hiding.

It is believed that it was al-Yemeni who succeeded al-Libbi, who is alleged to have been the brains behind two assassination attempts upon the life of the president of Pakistan, Pervez Musharraf. The CIA, which has refused to confirm or deny the death of al-Yemeni, enjoys the ability to be able to target the leaders of al-Qaeda wherever they may be.

The Pakistani government, however, denies that the likes of this story could have happened upon its territory. Sheikh Rashid Ahmad, the Pakistani Minister of Information, said, “Nothing happened in Pakistan, and if something has happened in Afghanistan, we are unaware of it.�

The correspondent added that the recognition of the occurrence of an event such as this would constitute a serious provocation for Islamabad, which is currently facing pressure from the street to abandon its ties with the United States, following the publication of accounts regarding the desecration of the Noble Volume [*] at the Guantánamo military base.

On behalf of some analysts, he communicated the opinion that Washington had decided to kill al-Yemeni after Islamabad refused to extradite al-Libbi, and most certainly decided to do so on its own.

For his part, the expert Vince Cannistraro, the former head of counterterrorism for the CIA, likened the death of al-Yemeni to an important step, in its elimination of a big leader possessing experience in the organization of al-Qaeda, a step which, in his opinion, “weakens the organization.�

He mentioned that the American intelligence agencies had previously employed Predator aircraft in November / Tishreen al-Thani 2002 to annihilate a car that was carrying six individuals who allegedly were related to al-Qaeda in Yemen. The American army has three models of Predator aircraft, among them the MQ1, equipped with the air to surface Hellfire missiles.

* The Qur’an

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--Translated by C.G. Häberl

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http://www.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/405A4512-11F4-4A22-91CA-ADEC676627FE.htm