From an article in Spotlighting News:
akistan’s President Pervez Musharraf confirms that senior al Qaeda commander, Abu Hamza Rabia, was killed in North Waziristan on Thursday, after a missile attack targeting their house.
Asked by reporters i...

Sunday 04 December 2005

Haisori, Pakistan - Pakistani tribesmen on Sunday displayed parts of a U.S.-marked missile they said hit a house and killed two boys, a possible explanation for a blast there which the government says killed a top al Qaeda commander.

Whatever the cause of the explosion, the death of Abu Hamza Rabia would be a coup for Pakistan and the United States which describe him as al Qaeda's chief of international operations.

But his body has not been found.

Sat amid the ruins of his mud and concrete-walled home in the restive North Waziristan tribal agency, Haji Mohammad Siddiq told Reuters his 17-year-old son and an eight-year-old nephew were killed in a missile attack, but denied there were any militants present.

"I don't know anything about them - there were no foreigners in my house," Siddiq said. "I have nothing to do with foreigners or al Qaeda.

"We were sleeping when I heard two explosions in my guest room. When I went there I saw my son, Abdul Wasit, and my eight-year-old nephew, Noor Aziz, were dead," said the tribesman as he received condolences from relatives and neighbors.

In Washington, U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley said he could not confirm the death of Rabia.

"We've seen the reports out of Pakistan ... We are not in a position at this point to publicly declare that he has been killed. If he has been killed, it's a very good development," Hadley said on CNN's "Late Edition."

Public Opinion

He declined to comment on any U.S. role in the attack.

"There are conflicting reports as to what happened," he said. "But obviously, the details of these kinds of things are things that is best left for the Pakistanis to talk about."

Pakistan, sensitive to domestic public opinion, has denied U.S. drone aircraft have carried out missile strikes on its soil in the past.

But tribesmen in Haisori showed U.S.-marked fragments of missiles they said hit the village early on Thursday. One piece of casing clearly bore the words US and MISSILE.

"I heard more explosions and went out to the courtyard, and when I looked up at the sky, I saw a white drone," said Siddiq. "I saw a flash of light come from the drone followed by explosions."

The tribesman, in his 50s, was asked to appear later this week before a court convened by government-appointed tribal agency officials.

President Pervez Musharraf said on Saturday he was "200 percent" sure Rabia was dead.

But confirmation of Rabia's death is based on intelligence reports and message intercepts, intelligence sources said, and Pakistani security forces have still to find a body.

Officials say Rabia's corpse, along with those of two comrades, was removed by other fighters and buried secretly.

An Arab television channel, al Arabiya, received a telephone call from an unidentified caller denying Rabia was dead.

U.S. counterterrorism officials in Washington confirmed the significance of Rabia's death, but gave no comment on how he might have been killed.

U.S. drones are reported to have operated in the area before, and in May a drone missile attack was reported to have killed al Qaeda bombmaker, Haitham al-Yemeni, in North Waziristan.

Pakistan denied an attack happened while the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency declined to comment.

Hundreds of militants fled to Pakistan after U.S.-led forces overthrew Afghanistan's Taliban government in late 2001 for harbouring Osama bin Laden. Bin Laden himself is believed to have passed through North Waziristan during his escape.

Good news indeed—-glad to see he’s not the fifth or sixth “# 3” we’ve nailed. Maybe he really is important.

Among what you're apparently missing;

Concept: Promotion by attrition.

Clue: We've been rather successful at killing their leadership off, of late; They're running out of morons to lead them, anymore.

Or seen this from the latest madman in the mid-east, Ahmadinejad. He is the Messiah you know.

Go. Click. Read! Its short and sweet.

The religion of peace. Plf-f-f-f-f!

Makes me wonder about when we finally bag Osama. I would doubt we'll take him alive.

Should it be a major consideration to kill him in such a manner that we can prove we did it---retaining the body for ex? Wouldn't it be a drag if we got him but couldn't prove it, and Osama joined Elvis in hiding?

Linked to some good news form MSNBC and the blogs that cover it: Winds of Change, Blogs for Bush, Daily Pundit, California Conservative, Outside The Beltway, Protein Wisdom, All Things Conservative,