Mail & Guardian Online : Official: Al-Qaeda frequented bombed Pakistan madrasa

Official: Al-Qaeda frequented bombed Pakistan madrasa

Islamabad, Pakistan | October 31, 2006

A religious school targeted in Pakistan air strikes was frequented by top al-Qaeda militants, including Ayman al-Zawahiri and the alleged mastermind of the foiled London airlines attack, a senior security official said on Tuesday.

Neither al-Zawahiri -- Osama bin Laden's Egyptian deputy -- nor Abu Obaida al-Misri were in the school, or madrasa, at the time of the raid on Monday, the official said in a briefing to journalists.

"The madrasa that was targeted was frequently visited by al-Qaeda leaders, including Ayman al-Zawahiri and Abu Obaida al-Misri", the security official said.

He said al-Misri was al-Qaeda's operational commander in Afghanistan's eastern Kunar province and was also the mastermind behind August's alleged conspiracy to blow up jets flying from London to the United States.

Al-Misri was responsible for guiding Rashid Rauf, a British national arrested by Pakistan in August in the alleged plot, the official said.

"Al-Misri has been a frequent visitor to the madrasa but he was not present at the time of the raid. al-Zawahiri was not there also," the official said.

He did not disclose when al-Zawahiri or al-Misri were last in the seminary in the Bajaur tribal area near the Afghan border, which army gunships destroyed early on Monday, killing about 80 people. -- AFP