Al-Qaida militant said killed by U.S. in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD -- An al-Qaida leader sought in the 2008 Mumbai siege and rumored to be a longshot choice to succeed Osama bin Laden was believed killed in a U.S. drone attack as he met with other militants in an apple orchard in Pakistan, an intelligence official said Saturday. If confirmed, it would be another blow against the terror organization a month after the slaying of its leader.

The purported death of Ilyas Kashmiri -- who also was accused of killing many Pakistanis -- could help soothe U.S.-Pakistan ties that nearly unraveled after the May 2 bin Laden raid. While it was unclear how Kashmiri was tracked, his name was on a list of militants that both countries recently agreed to jointly target as part of measures to restore trust, officials have said.

It also would be a major victory for U.S. intelligence, particularly the controversial CIA-run drone program, which began in 2005 but has been increasingly criticized by the Pakistanis amid rising anti-American sentiment in the country.

Senior U.S. officials in Washington, Islamabad and the Afghan capital, Kabul, said they could not confirm that Kashmiri was killed. Other Pakistani officials also said they couldn't confirm it.

Described by American officials as al-Qaida's military operations chief in Pakistan, the 47-year-old Pakistani was one of five most-wanted militant leaders in the country, accused of a string of bloody attacks in Pakistan and India as well as aiding plots in the West. He also has been named a defendant in an American court over a planned attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.

Washington had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his location.

One Pakistani intelligence officer said Kashmiri was believed killed along with eight other militants in a drone strike Friday close to Wana town in South Waziristan, not far from the Afghan border. A senior Pakistani security official said there "were strong indications" of his death.

Verifying who has been killed in the drone strikes is difficult, with DNA samples or photographic evidence typically needed. Initial reports have turned out to be wrong in the past.