ISLAMABAD, 14 April 2006 — Pakistani forces have killed an Egyptian Al-Qaeda terrorist wanted by the United States over the 1998 American Embassy bombings in Tanzania and Kenya, a Cabinet minister said yesterday.
Mohsin Musa Matawalli Atwah, 45, was killed late Wednesday in a Pakistani military raid led by helicopter gunships, on a hide-out in the remote North Waziristan village of Naghar Kalai near the Afghan border, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said. “I confirm the death of this Egyptian terrorist,” the minister said without elaborating.
Another senior Pakistani intelligence officer said military reports from the field indicated Atwah had been killed in the attack, in which at least six other militants were believed killed. “We have reports from Miranshah (the main town in North Waziristan) that he (Atwah) was eliminated in the strike by our forces,” said the officer, who declined to be identified.
US authorities have posted a $5 million bounty for Atwah, who is accused of involvement in the Aug. 7, 1998, bombings of the US embassies in Tanzania and Kenya that killed 12 Americans and more than 200 Africans.
It was unclear when Atwah may have come to Pakistan, but there had been speculation that he had previously lived in Somalia under the protection of local warlords.
Neither FBI officials in Washington nor US or Egyptian diplomats in Islamabad were able to confirm if Atwah had been killed.
“There was a huge explosion, which we think was a missile attack, before the helicopters came and bombed the house (where Atwah was hiding),” said village tribal elder Khan Wazir, in his 50s. “When we came to the house there was dust and other people who were already trying to pull out bodies and sift through the rubble.” An intelligence officer in Miranshah said the raid killed nine people in all — seven militants, including five non-Pakistanis, as well as two young brothers who lived in the house, one aged 2 years and the other 2 months.
