Afghanistan/Pakistan: On Ground Updates – July 29, 2008

Afghanistan/Pakistan:
On Ground Updates
U.S. Military Predator Drone Strikes in Pakistan Kills Al Qaeda Weapons Expert
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

* Yahoo News website brings us this report by Stephen Graham, an Associated Press writer and it starts off like this... Missiles hit a building in a Pakistani village on the border with Afghanistan on Monday, and intelligence officials said they were investigating reports that a senior al-Qaida figure was among six people killed. Pakistan's army said it had not confirmed the strike killed al-Qaida operative Abu Khabab al-Masri, described by Washington as an expert who trained terrorists in the use of poisons and explosives. The U.S. offers a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture...A Pakistani military intelligence official said al-Masri's wife told authorities that her husband died in the attack in South Waziristan. The woman was wounded and hospitalized, he said...
Read the full report at link below...
Al-Qaida man reported killed in missile strike

* Reuters.com reports...
Al Qaeda chemist killed in U.S. strike

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This bit of news also came out of Afghanistan today...
Coalition Forces Kill Militants in Afghanistan Province
BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan
Tuesday, July 29, 2008

Several militants were killed during a coalition forces operation targeting a Taliban leader yesterday in Afghanistan's Ghazni province, military officials reported.

Coalition forces searched compounds in the province's Gairo district, targeting a militant leader known to conduct foreign fighter operations in Ghazni and Paktika provinces, officials said.

Militants inside a building and around other buildings engaged the force with small-arms fire and rocket-propelled grenades. Coalition forces responded with small-arms fire and air strikes, killing the militants and damaging a building, officials said.

During their search, coalition forces found bomb-making materials and rigged explosives within a building, as well as a vehicle rigged with explosives. Troops also found several rocket-propelled grenades and a vehicle used to transport them.

Coalition forces destroyed the munitions, explosives and both vehicles after moving all residents to a safe location, officials said.

From a news article by DoD’s American Forces Press Service that was taken from a Combined Joint Task Force 101 news release