Pakistan is investigating reports that a CIA missile strike killed a senior al-Qaeda commander as he traveled in a tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said yesterday.
If confirmed, Sheikh Fateh al-Masri’s death would be the covert US missile program’s latest blow to Osama bin Laden’s terrorist network.
Al-Masri is believed to have replaced Mustafa al-Yazid, who was killed in a missile strike in May and characterized by the group as its No. 3 commander.
The US has launched 21 missiles into northwest Pakistan this month, more than double the number fired in any previous month. Some of the strikes were aimed at disrupting suspected terrorist plots aimed at Europe, a Western counterterrorism official said on Tuesday.
NO CONFIRMATION
Al-Masri was believed to be in a vehicle in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal region when a drone-fired missile struck him on Saturday, two Pakistani security officials said. They said they received reports from agents in the field, but did not have a body or other confirmation of his death.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive nature of the issue.
Reports of militant deaths in Pakistan’s tribal belt are difficult to verify and many who are reported to have been killed have turned up alive later.
Extremist groups like al-Qaeda often announce the deaths themselves, but typically after weeks or months.
MISSILE STRIKES
US officials rarely acknowledge or discuss the missile strikes, much less who they are targeting. However, a dozen or more top Taliban and al-Qaeda leaders are known to have been taken out by the attacks since they began in earnest in 2008.
Many of the attacks are on commanders and foot soliders behind attacks on NATO and US troops in neighboring Afghanistan. US officials say major Afghan insurgent networks have bases in northwest Pakistan, out of the reach of US ground forces.
Pakistan’s civilian government officially condemns the missile strikes as violations of the nation’s sovereignty, but it is believed to aid at least some of them. However, there has been relatively little criticism of this month’s surge in attacks.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was