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Journalism of Courage
The US has no confirmation that Ilyas Kashmiri,the al-Qaeda leader and a key planner behind the gruesome 2008 Mumbai terrorist attack,has been killed in a US drone attack,a top Pentagon official said Monday.
No confirmation, Pentagon spokesman Col Dave Lapan told reporters during his off camera daily briefing when asked about news reports coming from Pakistan that Kashmiri has been killed. The Department of Defence has no confirmation (on the death of Kashmiri), he noted when told that Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said on Monday that the US has confirmed the death of Kashmiri.
Gilani told a news conference in Quetta,the capital of Baluchistan province,that as far as the death of Kashmiri is concerned,US has confirmed that his death occurred on Friday. The 47-year-old Kashmiri,a former Pakistani army commando on whose head the US had put a price of $5 million,was reportedly killed on June 3 when a drone fired four missiles at a compound in Ghwakhwa in South Waziristan. His outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami confirmed his death in faxed messages to Pakistani TV channels.
Pakistans Interior Minister also said Monday he was 100 per cent certain that had been Kashmiri was killed. Rehman Maliks claim came as suspected US missiles targeted hideouts in the militant sanctuaries near Afghan border,killing at least 18 people.
The US fired missiles targeted the restive South Waziristan tribal region. Several Arabs were said to be among the victims of one of them,according to one Pakistani official,who did not give his name.
