Musharraf Describes Men Killed in U.S. Strike

A relative of Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader and a militant wanted by the United States were among those killed in an American missile strike on a village last month, Pakistan’s leader said Saturday.

The CIA failed to assassinate Ayman Zawahiri, the deputy Al Qaeda leader, in the Jan. 13 raid, but it reportedly killed as many as 18 Pakistani civilians, many of them women and children, sparking protests in Pakistan.

Pakistani officials previously had said that several foreign militants died in the strike on the village of Damadola, in the Bajaur region near the Afghan border. President Pervez Musharraf provided more details Saturday while visiting northwestern Pakistan.

“Five foreigners were killed in the U.S. attack in Bajaur,” Musharraf told tribal elders in Charsada. “One of them was a close relative of Ayman Zawahiri and the other man was wanted by the U.S. and had a $5-million reward on his head.”

Musharraf did not name the men, but Pakistani officials have said the two were Abdul Rehman Maghribi -- a Moroccan who may be Zawahiri’s son-in-law -- and Midhat Mursi, an explosives and chemical weapons expert on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorism suspects.

The Pakistani president said Zawahiri had been expected to be in Damadola, where the militants were meeting for dinner. Pakistani officials have said Zawahiri skipped the event and sent deputies.