The reported death of Mohammed Ilyas Kashmiri, considered one of the most dangerous of al-Qaida's commanders and strategists, in a missile attack in Pakistan remains shrouded in mystery.

If he is dead, it would mark a major coup for the Americans hard on the heels of the killing of Osama bin Laden in a May 2 U.S. Navy SEALs strike on his hideout near Islamabad, Pakistan's capital.

The Long War Journal, which monitors international terrorism, reported a purported photo of Kashmiri's body posted on a jihadist Web site by a Pakistani group associated with Kashmiri was actually that of Abu Dera Ismail Khan, a fighter of the Lashkar-e Toiba, or Army of the Pure, killed in the November 2008 terrorist attack on Mumbai.

Kashmiri, who is also a leader of the Harakat ul Jihad al-Islami and an elite jihadist unit known as Brigade 313, was reported killed with other fighters in a missile attack Friday night by a U.S. unmanned aerial vehicle in the Wana area of South Waziristan, an Islamist stronghold in northern Pakistan.

HUJI spokesman Abu Hanzla Kashir reported Kashmiri's death in a written statement, monitored by the SITE Intelligence Group, less than 24 hours after the attack and vowed to attack the United States to avenge the slaying.

The statement was posted on the Shamukh al-Islam forum, a Web site frequented by jihadists linked to al-Qaida, along with the purported image of Kashmiri's corpse.

There were also misspellings in the text of the statement, including the HUJI's name, which cast further doubt on its veracity.

Several Taliban leaders in Pakistan, along with Pakistani security officials, have said that Kashmiri was killed in Friday's missile strike.

But U.S. intelligence officers contacted by The Long War Journal Sunday said they couldn't confirm that Kashmiri was dead because they couldn't enter Waziristan to examine the body or check its DNA.

One said the jihadists may have reported Kashmiri's death as part of a deception plan, possibly to throw U.S. forces off his trail but there is no record that Islamist groups have sought to fake the death of a prominent figures in the past.

Still, the reported killing of Kashmiri came within a few days of reports that joint teams of U.S. CIA and Pakistani Inter-Services Intelligence directorate agents had been formed to hunt down top Taliban and al-Qaida leaders, including Kashmiri.

The establishment of these units indicates a new sense of cooperation between the Americans and Pakistanis, who have long been distrustful of each other.

The Americans say many officers and factions within the ISI, Pakistan paramount intelligence organization, sympathize and work with the Taliban, al-Qaida and the various Islamist groups operating in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

There are other aspects of the reported killing of Kashmiri that merit attention.

The nighttime drone attack on Wana was mounted five days after the disappearance of prominent Pakistani journalist Syed Saleem Shahzad of the Asia Times Online who specialized in terrorism and security affairs and had contacts with Kashmiri.

Shahzad vanished in Islamabad May 29 after he'd been questioned at ISI headquarters about a report he published that al-Qaida attacked a naval base in Karachi May 22 in retaliation for the arrest of two naval officers suspected of links with the group.

That attack, purportedly masterminded by Kashmiri, was a major embarrassment for the Pakistani military in the wake of the Americans' killing of bin Laden, who had been living in plain sight in a garrison town for several years, possibly with the knowledge of Pakistani authorities.

Shahzad had interviewed Kashmiri in September 2009, after the jihadist chieftain had been reported killed in a UAV attack.

The 40-year-old journalist had told colleagues he feared the ISI was out to kill him because of his contacts with Kashmiri and other jihadists.

Shahzad's body, showing signs of torture, was found May 31 on a canal bank 80 miles southeast of Islamabad. The ISI denied any involvement in his death.

Meantime, two senior operatives with ties to al-Qaida, a commander associated with bin Laden and a leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, were captured last week in Afghanistan.

earlier related report
US drone strikes kill 18 in Pakistan
Peshawar, Pakistan (AFP) June 6, 2011 - US missiles killed 18 militants in Pakistan's tribal district of South Waziristan on Monday, destroying compounds and a vehicle in the deadliest drone strikes for months, local officials said.

Three strikes were reported just days after Pakistani officials said they believed senior Al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri had died in a similar attack late Friday, also in South Waziristan which borders Afghanistan.

Washington has called Pakistan's semi-autonomous northwest tribal region the most dangerous place on Earth and the global headquarters of Al-Qaeda, where Taliban and other Al-Qaeda-linked networks have carved out strongholds.

The first strike killed seven militants in the early hours in Shalam Raghzai, 10 kilometres (six miles) northwest of Wana, the district's main town.

A second struck a compound in Wacha Dana, 12 kilometres northwest of Wana, killing eight militants, Pakistani officials said.

The third hit eight hours later in the Dray Nishtar area, which lies on the border with North Waziristan at 10:45 am (0545 GMT), about 30 kilometres from the site of the other two raids.

"A US drone fired two missiles on a militant vehicle killing three rebels," a senior Pakistani security official told AFP of the third attack.

Another official warned the death toll could rise. The combined toll of 18 made Monday's drone strikes the deadliest reported in Pakistan since a salvo of US missiles killed at least 35 people on March 17.

Five central Asian militants and eight Punjabi militants were among those killed, security officials said.

One of the demolished compounds was near a madrassa and just south of the Ghwakhwa area, where Kashmiri, one of Al-Qaeda's most feared operational leaders, was reportedly killed days earlier.

But a US defence official told AFP that as of Sunday evening the United States had "no confirmation" that Kashmiri had been killed.

Kashmiri has a US bounty of $5 million on his head.

The 47-year-old has been blamed for high-profile attacks on Western targets, accused over the November 2008 attacks on India's financial capital Mumbai and for masterminding devastating attacks on Pakistan's military.

Although the United States does not confirm Predator drone attacks, its military and the CIA operating in Afghanistan are the only forces that deploy the armed, unmanned aircraft in the region.

Retired Pakistani general turned military analyst Talat Masood said that, if confirmed, Kashmiri's death would be a "big blow" to Al-Qaeda and put other militant leaders on the run.

"He was very close to Al-Qaeda and was responsible for major attacks... He was continuously planning more," he told AFP.

US drones have reportedly carried out 12 strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt since US commandos killed Al-Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden in a raid in the garrison city of Abbottabad on May 2.

Pakistan is on the frontline of the US-led war on the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, and bomb attacks across the country have killed more than 4,400 people in the last four years -- blamed on militants opposed to the government's US alliance.

On Sunday, at least 24 people were killed in two separate bombings in the northwest -- the first at a bus terminal and the second at a bakery.

The bin Laden raid profoundly jolted Pakistan's security establishment, with its intelligence services and military widely accused of incompetence or complicity over the presence of bin Laden close to a military academy.

Most US drone strikes take place in North Waziristan, the most notorious Afghan Taliban and Al-Qaeda bastion in Pakistan, where the United States wants Pakistan to launch a ground offensive as soon as possible.

Analysts suggested that Monday's attacks in South Waziristan could be linked to recent press reports about an impending Pakistani offensive in North Waziristan and the subsequent flight of militants into neighbouring districts.

"The US wants to put pressure on Pakistan for a military operation in North Waziristan. This pressure will increase in coming days with an increase in the drone attacks," tribal affairs expert Rahimullah Yusufzai told AFP.

The drone strikes are hugely unpopular among the general public, who are deeply opposed to the government's alliance with Washington, but US officials say the missile strikes have severely weakened Al-Qaeda's leadership.

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