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Source: http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091114/WEEKENDER/711139788/1006
U.S. Drones Have Nearly Destroyed Al-Qaeda
[The National-Abu Dhabi] Michael Smith - Three weeks ago, Taliban leaders were meeting in a safe house in the Pakistani village of Chohetra, close to the Afghan border. The village is the home of Maulvi Faqir Mohammad, the deputy leader of the Pakistani Taliban. Halfway through the meeting, a U.S. Predator drone fired two Hellfire missiles that destroyed the Taliban hideout, killing 24 people and wounding 12 more. The Predator was also used against Abu Musab al Zarqawi, the leader of al-Qaeda in Iraq, killed by the U.S. in June 2006. The process designed to "decapitate" al-Qaeda and its allies is having a devastating effect on the insurgents. Western intelligence agencies believe that the al-Qaeda leadership's power is on the wane, with the growing exodus of members from Pakistan to Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. The writer is defense correspondent of the London Sunday Times.