ISLAMABAD -- A Pakistani Taliban spokesman has denied a U.S. media report that Al-Qaeda No. 2 Ayman al-Zawahri might have been killed or wounded in a U.S. missile strike on the Afghan border on July 28.
"Zawahri has been killed by them several times. But once again this claim is wrong. This is baseless," Maulvi Omar told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location on August 2.
CBS News based its report on a copy of an intercepted letter purportedly written by the leader of Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, requesting a doctor to treat the wounded al-Zawahri. The letter was written on July 29, a day after a U.S. missile strike killed an Al-Qaeda bomb expert in Pakistan's South Waziristan.
"Zawahri has been killed by them several times. But once again this claim is wrong. This is baseless," Maulvi Omar told Reuters by telephone from an undisclosed location on August 2.
CBS News based its report on a copy of an intercepted letter purportedly written by the leader of Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, requesting a doctor to treat the wounded al-Zawahri. The letter was written on July 29, a day after a U.S. missile strike killed an Al-Qaeda bomb expert in Pakistan's South Waziristan.