4 Qaeda leaders killed in Afghanistan
al-Qaeda has posted a statement on the Internet saying four of its Afghanistan commanders have been killed, including an explosives expert wanted by the US.
al-Qaeda has confirmed that a top expert on chemical and biological weapons whose killing was reported by Pakistan has died, an Islamist militant website said in a statement on Sunday.
Washington posted a $5 million reward for Abu Khabab al-Masri. He is accused of training terrorists to use poison and explosives. He is also believed to have trained suicide bombers who killed 17 American sailors on the USS Cole in Yemen in 2000.
Sunday's statement says al-Masri "left behind other experts who were trained by him." It did not give details of how he and three other men died.
The statement is dated July 30 and signed by al-Qaeda's top Afghanistan leader, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed. It appears on a militant Web site frequently used by the terror group.
Its authenticity could not be independently confirmed.
Pakistani officials had said that a July 28 missile strike in the South Waziristan tribal area killed Abu Khabab al-Masri, an Egyptian militant whose full name is Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar.
Residents said the strike was carried out by a pilotless US drone.
Pakistan's Taliban movement on Saturday denied a US television report that al-Qaeda's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahiri may have been wounded or killed in the same attack.
al-Qaeda's statement, dated July 30 and posted on an Internet site regularly used by Islamist militants, did not say how Abu Khabab al-Masri died. But it said he had sought "martyrdom" and repeatedly urged his command to assign him to carry out a "martyrdom-seeking (suicide) operation.”
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