One for the Good Guy's

One of al-Qaeda's top leaders, Hamza Rabia, was killed reportedly by Pakistani security forces in a rocket attack near the Afghan border with U.S. help, American and Pakistani officials said on Saturday. The attack took place on Thursday in the North Waziristan tribal area, and his remains were identified through DNA test.

Rabia was thought to be an Egyptian and head of al-Qaeda's foreign operations. He was thought to be the number three man in the organization, just below Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri. He was responsible for training, recruiting, networking, and planning international terrorist activities abroad.

Now, there are conflicting reports about his death. One anonymous Pakistani official said that a missile attack triggered a huge explosion in a stockpile of weapons. Another anonymous group said that the US assistant in "eliminating the threat", and that was that. The earliest report had Rabia dying while making bombs at a home near Miran Shah. Pakistan officials are denying the missile strike theory, while eyewitnesses seem to be disputing that theory. (read more)

Regardless of how he died, TDI is just glad that there's one less al-Qaeda murderous thug out there. And if he was a top-ranking official, well, even better.