deepak pace
DJ_DEE
Two top al Qaeda terrorists have been killed in a U.S. missile strike on a building in northern Pakistan on New Year's Day, according to two senior U.S. officials.
A U.S. official says Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam was al Qaeda's operations director for Pakistan.
The two men, both Kenyans, were on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list, one of the officials said, adding that they were believed to have been responsible for the September suicide bombing at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The pair was also under indictment for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 220 people and injured scores of others, according to the officials.
"These are two of the most dangerous operational figures in today's al Qaeda," one senior official told .
The officials identified the men as Usama al-Kini, who was also known as Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam, and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, described as a top lieutenant to al-Kini.
The officials could not confirm the particulars of the attack that killed them. But The Washington Post reported the men were slain in a missile strike by a CIA pilotless drone aircraft.
The men were believed to have been behind numerous suicide attacks in Pakistan, including ones targeting police facilities and a Pakistani air force bus.
The two men, both Kenyans, were on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorist list, one of the officials said, adding that they were believed to have been responsible for the September suicide bombing at the Marriott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan.
The pair was also under indictment for the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania, which killed more than 220 people and injured scores of others, according to the officials.
"These are two of the most dangerous operational figures in today's al Qaeda," one senior official told .
The officials identified the men as Usama al-Kini, who was also known as Fahid Mohammed Ally Msalam, and Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan, described as a top lieutenant to al-Kini.
The officials could not confirm the particulars of the attack that killed them. But The Washington Post reported the men were slain in a missile strike by a CIA pilotless drone aircraft.
The men were believed to have been behind numerous suicide attacks in Pakistan, including ones targeting police facilities and a Pakistani air force bus.
