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USS Cole Attacker Reported Dead in Pak Drone Strike Added to Terror List

Alex Constantine - January 6, 2011

No doubt about it, news reporters baritoned a few months back, an al Qaedan had bitten the dust:

Fahad Mohammed Ahmed Killed by US Drone: Report

TheNews | October 07, 2010

WASHINGTON: One of the FBI's most wanted terrorists was killed alongside a Briton by a drone attack in Pakistan last month targeting al-Qaeda operatives planning a Mumbai-style attack in Europe, according to reports.

Fahd Mohammed Ahmed al-Quso, 35, allegedly met two of the September 11 hijackers and was said to be involved in the bombing of the USS Cole. He was thought to be with the radical preacher Anwar al-Awlaki in Yemen but reports from Pakistan suggested he had been killed there. ...

http://www.thenews.com.pk/latest-news/2462.htm

But a couple of months later ...

USS Cole attacker once reported dead

now added to terror List

0000untitled - USS Cole Attacker Reported Dead in Pak Drone Strike Added to Terror List

By Jeb Boone and Shuaib M. al-Mosawa
Yemen Observer | December 11, 2010

Fahd al-Quso was reported to have been killed in Pakistan last September.

The US State Department has added AQAP operative Fahd Muhammad Ahmed al-Quso to the list of globally designated terrorists. Al-Quso, wanted by the FBI for his role in the USS Cole bombing in 2000, was reported to have been killed in North Waziristan in a predator drone strike last September. Al-Quso was arrested by Yemeni authorities shortly after 9/11 but escaped, along with many of senior al-Qaeda members, in 2003. He was recaptured in 2004 but released in 2007. In accordance with the judicial order mandating his release, the Yemeni government has refused to detain him or hand him over to US officials. The State Department believes that al-Quso is cooperating with other AQAP leaders, including Nasir al-Wuhayshi, Said al-Shihri, and American born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki.

“The designation of Fahd al-Quso highlights U.S. action against the threat posed to the United States by al-Qa’ida in the Arabian Peninsula,” said U.S. Ambassador for Counterterrorism Daniel Benjamin in a statement given by the US state department. The statement also confirmed that al-Quso is the head of an AQAP cell somewhere in Yemen.

Al-Quso was targeted in a US missile strike in Shabwa last December, along with AQAP military commander Qasim al-Raymi, senior leader Nasir al-Wuhayshi, and US born cleric Anwar al-Awlaki. All three AQAP commanders as well as al-Awlaki survived the strike.

Al-Quso is believed to be hiding in the al-Said district of Shabwa, close to the Abyan province border according to Major Mansoor Hadi, security director of the Mayfa district of Shabwa. However, the major was unsure if this location was accurate.

Ahmed Salim abdul Salam, one of ‘Al al-Abdullah bin Dahah Sheikhs in Wadi Rafadh, al-Quso’s hometown, was unaware of his whereabouts.

“He’s not here. They released news about his death and we’re not sure whether he is alive or dead,” said the Sheikh. He also stated that al-Quso, along with Qasim al-Raymi, Nasser al-Wuhayshi, and Said al-Shihri lived in Wadi Rafadh for a period of time following al-Quso’s release in 2007.

“American drones flew over us yesterday and earlier today,” said the Sheikh when asked if he believed that US forces were actively engaged in searching for al-Quso.

http://www.yobserver.com/front-page/10020322.html