Al-Qaeda chief ‘killed by US’

President Musharraf of Pakistan insisted that the head of operations for al-Qaeda had been killed. “Yesterday I said (the death) was 200 per cent confirmed. Now, I say it is 500 per cent confirmed,” he said.

General Musharraf said upon his arrival in Kuwait that Hamza Rabia, an Egyptian, had been killed in North Waziristan, a tribal area of Pakistan on the Afghan border.

According to US media reports, Rabia was killed by a missile fired by an unmanned Predator drone controlled by the CIA. Stephen Hadley, the US National Security Adviser, could not confirm his death.

Pakistani officials said that the death of Rabia had been proven by DNA tests. They said the missile attack on a house near Miran Shah triggered an explosion in a stockpile of munitions, and that US assistance had played a critical role in tracking down Rabia.

Pakistani authorities have launched several operations against al-Qaeda in Miran Shah. The authorities blame Islamic militants for rocket attacks and roadside bombings aimed at security forces in North Waziristan. (AFP)