Al Qaeda Leader Killed in Pakistan by US Missile

Hamza Rabia, a top al Qaeda operative involved in two assassination attempts against the Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf, was killed Saturday by a missile which hit his residence in Pakistan, AP informed.

Although neighbors found at crashed house shrapnel from a Hellfire missile, used only by the US Aviation, U.S. national security adviser Stephen Hadley declined to confirm its origin or Rabia's death.

"At this point we are not in a position publicly to confirm that he is dead. But if he is, that is a good thing for the war on terror," Hadley told Fox News.

Unlike Hadley, President Musharraf said Saturday it was "200 percent confirmed" that Rabia was killed.

AGM-114 Hellfires are American air-ground missiles launched against tanks or other individual targets from several platforms, among which the remote controlled Predator airplane.

Haji Mohammad Siddiq, owner of the house, told Reuters that the rocket attack killed his 17-year-old son and 8-year-old nephew, but denied there were any militants present.

"I don't know anything about them, there were no foreigners in my house," Siddiq said. "I have nothing to do with foreigners or al Qaeda.
We were sleeping when I heard two explosions in my guest room. When I went there I saw my son, Abdul Wasit, and my eight-year-old nephew, Noor Aziz, were dead," he added.

The Pakistani officials said that the DNA tests confirmed the death of the al Qaeda leader, but according to the Dawn newspaper, the body had been retrieved by associates outside Pakistan and therefore, was not found by authorities. The Pakistani newspaper also said that it's likely the attack was launched by two remote-controlled airplanes.