American media sources report that al-Qaeda's number two leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, may have been killed in an attack on a suspected AQ safe house in Pakistan earlier this evening. Estimates of the dead after the American air strike on the compound in Damadola, a remote village near the Afghan border where both he and Osama bin Laden had been rumored to have hidden themselves away from both US and Pakistani forces. ABC News reports:

Today, according to Pakistani military sources, U.S. aircraft attacked a compound known to be frequented by high-level al Qaeda operatives. Pakistani officials tell ABC News that al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, may have been among them.

U.S. intelligence for the last few days indicated that Zawahiri might have been in the location or about to arrive, although there is still no confirmation from U.S. officials that he was among the victims.

ABC also reports that the forces on the scene have identified five bodies, possibly more, as potential top-level AQ leadership. Forensic experts have started their analysis to determine if the air strike with the unmanned airplane has put an end to the operational mastermind of the Islamofascist network responsible for 9/11:

Villagers described seeing an unmanned plane circling the area for the last few days and then bombs falling in the early morning darkness. Eighteen people were killed, according to the villagers who said women and children were among the fatalities.

But Pakistani officials tell ABC News that five of those killed were high-level al Qaeda figures, and their bodies are now undergoing forensic tests for positive identification.

It will take a day or two for the bodies to be recovered and an identification confirmed. In the meantime, al-Jazeera may soon have to start auditioning people to make new videos for their nightly news. (H/T: Michelle Malkin and Power Line)

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» Al-Qaeda's Al-#2, Al-Zawahri al-Not al-Dead al-. from RightWinged.com
A lot of people were psyched over word yesterday, that the American military might have killed Al-Qaeda's number two in in an airstrike near the Afghanistan/Pakistan border. Sadly this wasn't the case, and the number two wasn't successfully flushed (Ra... [Read More]

Tracked on January 14, 2006 9:10 AM