Bodies found after al-Qaida blitz

The bodies of two Pakistani government officials have been found dumped in a well after they were abducted two weeks ago at the start of a major counter-terrorism operation, during which the military claims it killed the top al-Qaida intelligence chief.

Tribesmen in the Kaloosha area of South Waziristan, the recent focus of Pakistan’s largest ever sweep for al-Qaida fugitives, found the bodies late last night, bringing the government and military death toll in the operation to at least 48.

The two officials, identified by authorities as Mati Ullah and Ameer Nawaz, were captured by militants in a botched initial assault on March 16 when the paramilitary forces raided homes in Kaloosha but met with stiff resistance.

“Their bodies were found in a well,” said a government official in Wana, the main town in South Waziristan. He spoke on condition of anonymity.

Twelve paramilitary soldiers who were also abducted in the initial assault were freed on Sunday, when the military pulled out thousands of forces after negotiations conducted by tribal elders.

The military declared the operation a success, claiming it had killed 63 foreign and local militants. But hundreds of other militants are still at large. Uzbek terrorist leader Tahir Yuldash was reportedly wounded in the assault but escaped.

Army spokesman Major General Shaukat Sultan said intelligence sources indicated that the al-Qaida intelligence chief he named only as Abdullah had been killed in the operation.

There were conflicting accounts among Pakistani intelligence and government officials about whether Abdullah’s body had been recovered.

An intelligence official said information came from intercepted radio conversations.

He added that interrogations of suspected al-Qaida members led the Pakistanis to believe that Abdullah was “a very important person for al-Qaida” and the group’s top intelligence official.

Another member of Pakistani intelligence said the military was showing photos of Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah – who is on the FBI’s Most Wanted List – to captured militants, but none had identified the photo.

He said all information was also being shared with US intelligence agencies.

Abdullah, who holds an Egyptian passport, was indicted for his alleged involvement in the August 7, 1998, bombings of the US embassies in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and Nairobi, Kenya, that killed 231 people, including 12 Americans.

He was known to have fled to Pakistan after the blasts.

A US intelligence official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the United States doesn’t know if Abdullah was killed. “We do not have any confirmation on it,” the official said.