Al-Qaida’s third in command is believed to be have been killed by a US Predator drone strike, a US official said today.

A top terror leader praised the suicide attack on a CIA outpost in Afghanistan today and said it was to avenge the deaths of a Pakistani Taliban leader and two al-Qaida figures.

An airport shuttle driver accused of plotting a 7/7-style bombing in New York had contacts with al-Qaida that went as high as an Osama bin Laden confidant believed to be the terror group's leader in Afghanistan, US intelligence officials said.