 US missile attacks in Pakistan, launched from warplanes or predator drones, destroyed a number of houses in what is reported to be an attempt to take out al-Qaeda's number two Ayman al-Zawahiri. ABC News had a dubious exclusive that he "may" have been among the victims.
Today, according to Pakistani military sources, U.S. aircraft attacked a compound known to be frequented by high-level al Qaeda operatives. Pakistani officials tell ABC News that al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, may have been among them.
U.S. intelligence for the last few days indicated that Zawahiri might have been in the location or about to arrive, although there is still no confirmation from U.S. officials that he was among the victims.
The US press confirmed with unnamed intelligence sources that it had been predator attacks attempting to take out the Egyptian top terrorist, but their equally anonymous Pakistani counterparts says the actionable intelligence had been wrong.
"Their information was wrong, and our investigations conclude that they acted on a false information," said a senior Pakistani intelligence official with direct knowledge of Pakistan's investigations into the attack.
His account was confirmed by a senior government official who said al-Zawahri "was not there." Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because of the subject's sensitivity.
Pakistan has condemned and protested the deadly attacks.
An AP reporter who visited Damadola about 12 hours after the attack saw three destroyed houses, hundreds of yards apart. Villagers had buried at least 15 people, including women and children, and were digging for more bodies in the rubble.
Villagers denied hosting al-Zawahri or any other member of al-Qaida or Afghanistan's ousted Taliban regime, and said all the dead were local people.
More than 8,000 tribesmen staged a peaceful protest in a nearby town Saturday to condemn the airstrike, which one speaker described as "open terrorism." Police dispersed a smaller protest in another town using tear gas. A mob burned the office of a U.S.-backed aid agency near Damadola, but nobody was injured, residents said.
As always, there have been very conflicting reports. Other Pakistani intelligence officials, suitably anonymous, had told that a number of bodies of foreign al-Qaeda terrorists had been taken away from the destroyed houses for DNA identification.
It appears likely that al-Zawahiri is still at large.
4:40:42 PM 
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