Missile attack 'kills' al Qa'eda chemical expert

PESHAWAR, Pakistan // A suspected US missile strike in Pakistan's tribal belt today killed six people, including Midhat Mursi al Sayid Umar, al Qa'eda's chemical weapons specialist, security officials said. "We believe he was killed in this strike," a senior intelligence official based in the northwestern city of Peshawar said. "It was his hideout and information that has been shared with us says he was targeted in this strike," the official said, on condition of anonymity. The Egyptian, 54, also known as Abu Khabab al Masri, had a US$5 million (Dh18.35m) bounty on his head and was alleged to have run terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Officials earlier said that three Arab militants and three Pakistani boys were killed when missiles fired by a suspected US drone hit a house attached to a mosque in the South Waziristan tribal district bordering Afghanistan. Residents said they heard aircraft flying above the area before and after the strike, adding that there had been alarm over similar flights throughout last weekend. Pakistani officials said the missiles apparently came from US-led coalition troops deployed over the border, which lies about 20km west of Azam Warsak. "This has been done by coalition forces; we did not do it," a Pakistani security official said. Osama bin Laden and dozens of Arab al Qa'eda operatives are believed to be hiding in the tribal belt. The US-led coalition and a separate Nato force in Afghanistan said they were not involved in the missile strike. However, the US Central Intelligence Agency is also known to operate drones in the region. The Pakistani military was not immediately available to comment on the attack. Pakistan has protested against a wave of missile strikes attributed to US-led forces in Afghanistan in recent months that have killed dozens of local people. The chairman of Pakistan's joint chiefs of staff, Gen Tariq Majid, warned the visiting head of US Central Command, Lt Gen Martin Dempsey, yesterday that repeated strikes were "detrimental to bilateral relations", an army statement said. Fears have mounted in recent weeks in Pakistan of a possible US invasion of the tribal region. Yousaf Raza Gilani, the prime minister, and other Pakistani officials have warned against any such offensive, saying Pakistan will defend its territorial sovereignty. In June, 11 Pakistani troops were killed and nine wounded in a US missile strike in the Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan, provoking an angry protest from Islamabad. * Agence France-Presse