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Key al-Qaeda associate killed in Pakistan in apparent rocket attack | ASHARQ AL-AWSAT English Archive 2005 -2017
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ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) – One of al-Qaeda”s top five leaders, said to be responsible for planning overseas strikes, was killed by Pakistani security forces in a rocket attack near the Afghan border with U.S. help, American and Pakistani officials said.

Hamza Rabia, a key associate of al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri, died Thursday in an explosion in the North Waziristan tribal area, and his remains were identified in DNA tests, Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed said Saturday.

Two U.S. counterterrorism officials, who spoke only on condition of anonymity because of the information”s sensitivity, confirmed Rabia”s death but would not elaborate on the circumstances.

They said Rabia was believed to be an Egyptian and head of al-Qaeda”s foreign operations, possibly as senior as the No. 3 in the terrorist group, which puts him at a level just below Osama bin Laden and al-Zawahri.

Rabia filled the vacuum created this year by the capture of the previous operations chief, Abu Faraj al-Libbi, the two U.S. officials said.

As head of operations, Rabia would have been responsible for training, recruiting, networking and, most importantly, planning international terrorist activities outside the Afghan-Pakistan region.

One of the officials said Rabia also may have been involved in operations outside the region.

He had a wide array of jihadist contacts, the other official said, and was believed to be trying to reinvigorate al-Qaeda”s operations.

The circumstances of Rabia”s death were unclear.

A senior Pakistani intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media, said a missile attack triggered a huge explosion in a stockpile of bomb-making materials, grenades and other munitions.

Other Pakistani intelligence officials, also not identifying themselves for the same reason, said U.S. assistance played a critical role in tracking down Rabia and &#34eliminating the threat&#34 that he posed.

Earlier, a top government administrator, Syed Zaheerul Islam, said Rabia died in an explosion while making bombs at a home near Miran Shah. Islam said the blast also killed four other people, including two local residents, and left two others injured, who have not been identified.

Miran Shah is a strategic tribal region where al-Qaeda militants are believed to be hiding and where Pakistani forces have launched several operations against them.

Assailants fired at least four rockets Saturday night at the town of Mir Ali, near where Rabia died, an intelligence official said Sunday on condition of anonymity because of the secretive nature of his job. One hit a power line, disrupting electricity to several villages,

while the other three landed near an army base but no one was hurt, he said.

Authorities blame Islamic militants for rocket attacks and roadside bombings targeting security forces in North Waziristan.

Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf confirmed Rabia had been killed.

The Dawn newspaper, citing sources it did not identify, reported that the attack on a mud-walled home near Miran Shah may have been launched from two pilotless planes. It said Rabia”s body had been retrieved by associates from outside Pakistan.

Officials have said they do not know the whereabouts of al-Zawahri or bin Laden.