ISLAMABAD, Pakistan, Jan. 31 (UPI) -- A top al-Qaida operative, believed to be in the same level as Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, has been killed, CNN reported Thursday.
The report, quoting a "knowledgeable" Western official and a military source, said Abu Laith al-Libi, who was of Libyan descent and involved in operation, planning and training along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, was killed in Pakistan.
Islamist Web sites, which have also reported his death, said Libi died in Afghanistan.
The Western official told CNN Libi was "not far below the importance of" bin Laden and Zawahari.
Pakistan's Dawn reported Thursday that 12 foreigners, seven of them believed to be Arabs, were killed Monday night in a missile attack on a compound in Pakistan's North Waziristan tribal region.
The report said militants from the area buried all the bodies.
"Militants are still keeping the local people away from the place," a villager told Dawn. The report said it wasn't clear who fired the missile.
