PESHAWAR, Pakistan: Al-Qaeda’s top expert on chemical and biological weapons is believed to have been killed yesterday in a suspected US missile strike in Pakistan’s lawless tribal areas, security officials said.
Egyptian militant Midhat Mursi Al-Sayid Umar, also known as Abu Khabab Al-Masri, had a $5 million bounty on his head and allegedly trained hundreds of extremists at camps in the Pakistan-Afghanistan border region. Officials earlier said that three Arab militants and three Pakistani boys were killed when missiles fired by a suspected US drone hit a house attached to a mosque in the South Waziristan tribal district.
“We believe he was killed in this strike,” a senior intelligence official based in the northwestern city of Peshawar said on condition of anonymity. “It was his hide-out and information that has been shared with us says he was targeted in this strike.”
There was no immediate confirmation from the US-led coalition in Afghanistan or from Washington.
Umar’s wife and children were believed to have been injured in the attack, Pakistani officials said. Residents said the victims of the missile strike were hastily buried in the hours after the attack.
Pakistan’s military said it was still seeking confirmation.
Claims that Umar was killed in another airstrike in the Bajaur tribal region in January 2006 turned out to be untrue.
