MADRID — A U.S airstrike in northwestern Pakistan is believed to have killed a front-line leader of Al Qaeda, anti-terrorism officials said this week, continuing an aerial barrage that has angered a key American ally but is thought to have hurt the network's operations.
Intelligence indicates that a missile apparently fired from a U.S. Predator drone killed Khalid Habib, a veteran Egyptian militant who became a leader this year of the "external operations" core based in South Asia but targeting the West, a senior European anti-terrorism official said Thursday.
Habib apparently died in a vehicle that was blown up in the attack Oct. 16 in the village of Saam, a hub of foreign militants protected by tribesmen loyal to a Taliban chief in the South Waziristan region, said the official, who asked to remain anonymous because of the sensitivity of the issue.
As with other Al Qaeda bosses thought to have been slain by U.S. airstrikes in Pakistan this year, confirmation of Habib's demise remains difficult, and there was conflicting information about the number of casualties in the attack, the official said. But the intelligence seems solid, he said.
"Our working assumption is that he is dead," the official said.
The slaying of Habib, if confirmed, continues a pattern in which U.S. anti-terrorism forces have set their sights on key second-tier leaders who run day-to-day operations for Osama bin Laden and his top deputy, Ayman Zawahiri, both fugitives. The priority has been to disrupt plotting and training for potential attacks on Western targets, anti-terrorism officials say.
Abu Laith al Libi, a Libyan, is among operational chiefs slain this year. Anti-terrorism officials also believe that a strike in July killed Abu Khabab Masri, an Egyptian explosives expert whose real name was Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar and who led Al Qaeda's efforts to develop chemical weapons. At least 15 suspected Predator strikes have taken place since early August, more than three times the year's total up until then.
As the pace of the raids has accelerated, the subject has become very delicate for Pakistan's 7-month-old civilian government. On Wednesday, Pakistani leaders summoned U.S. Ambassador Anne W. Patterson to demand a halt to airstrikes, saying they violated Pakistan's sovereignty.
Nonetheless, the aerial onslaught appears to have kept the predominantly Arab Al Qaeda core on the run. Residents in North and South Waziristan say militants in recent weeks have avoided mosques and religious schools, which have been prime targets.
