A senior al Qaeda operative was killed by a missile fired from an unmanned CIA Predator aircraft in Pakistan last last week, ABC news reported.
Intelligence officials said Haitham al-Yemeni had been tracked for some time with the hope that he would lead them to al Qaeda leader Osama bin
Laden.
After No 3 al Qaeda leader Abu Faraj al-libbi was captured last month, officials decided to go after al-Yemeni rather than risk him going into hiding.