Article

2005-12-03 India-Pakistan

Senior al-Qaeda leader helizapped in Waziristan

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Posted by Dan Darling 2005-12-03 00:20|| || Front Page|| [7 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Rabia is an Egyptian. U.S. officials have described him recently as "top-five al-Qaida" and, as one US official said on Friday, "killing him would be indeed a very big deal."

Al Qaeda operational commander
Hamza Rabia, said to be of Syrian origin
, was among the five killed in the missile attack on a mud-house in Asoray village in Mirali tehsil, to the east of North Waziristanâs regional headquarters, Miranshah.

Dan, is there enough intel on this dead dirt to clear this up? was he recruited from the Egyptian 'Brotherhood'? or a Syrian who moved to Egypt?

prolly should have stayed at the Lahore Holiday Inn.

Posted by Red Dog 2005-12-03 02:48|| 2005-12-03 02:48|| Front Page Top

#2 Hamza Rabia is an Egyptian, run his name through the Rantburg search engine. I believe he's an EIJ leader who lived in Syria for a little while, so that might explain the mix-up.

He was one of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed's aides together with Abu Faraj al-Libbi and after the capture of al-Libbi he took over as the head of al-Qaeda in Pakistan. Ironically, the reason he was probably up in Waziristan to begin with probably had something to do with the appointment of Khalid Habib and Abd Hadi al-Iraqi as the new heads of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

Wonder what they think now given what happened to the boss?

Posted by Dan Darling">Dan Darling 2005-12-03 03:20|| http://www.regnumcrucis.blogspot.com]">[http://www.regnumcrucis.blogspot.com] 2005-12-03 03:20|| Front Page Top

#3 Wonder what they think now given what happened to the boss?

ummmm..living in mud huts can be Dangerous to one's health?

...among the five killed in the missile attack on a mud-house..

probably Rabia's bodyguard...but maybe Khalid Habib or Abd Hadi al-Iraqi died with him. He said hopefully.

Posted by Red Dog 2005-12-03 03:42|| 2005-12-03 03:42|| Front Page Top

#4 That'd be nice, but normally the Bad Guys aren't stupid enough to cluster together like that. My guess is it's his bodyguards, aides, and whatever locals were letting him use their house.

Posted by Dan Darling">Dan Darling 2005-12-03 03:51|| http://www.regnumcrucis.blogspot.com]">[http://www.regnumcrucis.blogspot.com] 2005-12-03 03:51|| Front Page Top

#5 Lots of big guys getting wacked right now. Somebody must be singing.

Posted by 2b 2005-12-03 09:00|| 2005-12-03 09:00|| Front Page Top

#6 That would be 'Mahmoud the Weasel'.

Posted by Steve White">Steve White 2005-12-03 09:39|| 2005-12-03 09:39|| Front Page Top

#7 tribal witnesses insist that a hail of missiles fired from unmanned air vehicle struck the house at around 1.45 am

"we wuz sitting around the campfire, making s'mores, when I realized we wuz almost outta graham crackers...it was then that I looked up..."

Posted by Frank G">Frank G 2005-12-03 13:06|| 2005-12-03 13:06|| Front Page Top

#8 Somebody must be singing.

Or somebody's computer has been compromised and we are now intercepting communications. I'd vote for the technical over the human in this case, because the decentralized nature of the terr sturcture makes it unlikely that any one singer could compromise a lot of people in a lot of places over as long a period of time as compromised communications.

Posted by Sheanter Gleack1126 2005-12-03 13:20|| 2005-12-03 13:20|| Front Page Top

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