|
Top Al-Qaeda Official Believed Killed
WASHINGTON, Nov
16 (News Agencies) - Mohammed Atef, a top al-Qaeda official, is believed to have been killed in a U.S. air strike near Kabul, a U.S. official said.
"We believe that did occur," said official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
The official, citing reports on action Thursday, said the air strike in which Atef was believed to have been killed occurred near Kabul.
One official told CNN that although the reports are credible, "You can't say he's definitely dead until we see the body."
Atef is a senior lieutenant to the network's leader Osama bin Laden, serving as the second man in the al-Qaeda chain of command, according to ABCNews.com.
Born in Egypt in 1958, Atef, who also uses the name Teseer Abdullah, is the chief military commander of al-Qaeda as well as its deputy leader, an Arab diplomatic source said.
He is also a member of the Egyptian organization al-Jihad and is wanted in Egypt and the United States.
According to the source, Atef's daughter is married to the son of bin Laden, the accused mastermind of the September 11 attacks on New York and Washington that left about 5,000 dead.
The source said Atef took part in the Afghan war against the Soviet occupation from 1979-89 and was with bin Laden when the Saudi dissident lived in Sudan.
Atef was also indicted, along with bin Laden, for the twin bombings of the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.
A CNN report said Atef is also believed by the U.S. to be responsible for supervising the training of al-Qaeda operatives; prosecutors have accused him of providing military assistance and training to Somali tribes opposed to U.N. intervention in Somalia in 1993, when 18 U.S. Army Rangers were killed by Somali tribes.
|
