Sources: Airstrike may have killed bin Laden's No. 2
From David Ensor
CNN
Saturday, January 14, 2006 Posted: 0054 GMT (0854 HKT)
Intelligence suggests that Ayman al-Zawahiri, seen in this September video, may be dead.(CNN) -- A CIA airstrike on a building in Pakistan may have killed Osama bin Laden's most-trusted aide, sources said.
The building where Ayman al-Zawahiri was thought to be is in Damadola, a small village near the Afghan border.
There has been no confirmation that al-Zawahiri was killed in the attack Friday. However, sources say there was intelligence suggesting he was in the building at the time of the strike.
Pakistani officials were at the scene of the strike, trying to determine if Al-Zawahiri was killed.
A doctor in the area told The Associated Press that at least 17 people were killed in the attack, but other witnesses at the scene said the death toll was higher.
Just last week, the Arabic-language news network, Al-Jazeera, aired a videotape in which the al Qaeda operative called on President Bush to concede defeat in Iraq.
It was al-Zawahiri's fifth message released over the past year, including ones claiming responsibility for the July attacks on the transit system in London, England.
The U.S. government is offering up to $25 million for information leading to the capture of al-Zawahiri, an Egyptian doctor and long-time bin Laden associate.
http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/me...ike/index.html