Al Qaida man killed in gun battle, says report

Police may have killed a suspected top al Qaida operative today in a four-hour gun battle at a house in southern Pakistan that also led to the arrest of two other men.

Intelligence officials said the dead man was thought to be Amjad Hussain Farooqi, who was wanted for his alleged role in the kidnapping and beheading of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002 and two assassination attempts against Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf in December 2003.