Author of al-Qaeda Chemical and Biological Weapons Manuals Believed Killed in Pakistan

Officials in Pakistan said today that a U.S. missile strike last week killed at least three high level al-Qaeda members, including a man believed to have written manuals with instructions on how to make chemical and biological weapons, the Associated Press reported (see GSN, Dec. 5).

Midhat Mursi, also known as Abu Khabab, is an explosives expert who operated a training camp in eastern Afghanistan and had written chemical and biological weapons manuals found by the U.S. military. The United States has offered a $5 million rewards for information leading to his arrest.

Others believed killed by missiles were Abu Obaidah al-Masri, al-Qaeda chief in Afghanistan’s eastern Kunar province, and Abdul Rehman al-Maghribi, a close relative of al-Qaeda’s No. 2 operative, Ayman al-Zawahri.

Officials speculated that a Khalid Habib, chief of al-Qaeda operations on the Pakistani-Afghan border, was also killed. 

None of the bodies have yet been found, the officials said.

“We do not have any evidence to prove that they have been killed, but we have indications that they were there and were among those bodies that were taken away,” said one official (Munir Ahmad, Associated Press/Yahoo!News, Jan. 19).

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