There have been an unprecedented number of attacks this month following a deadly December 30 militant attack on a CIA base in Afghanistan. Two military intelligence officers said Usman was believed killed on January 14 on the border of South and North Waziristan tribal regions.
Another 11 militants were also killed in the strike on a militant compound. Authorities have previously said the attack had targeted the leader of the Taliban, Hakimullah Mehsud. There had been no previous indication Usman was in Pakistan. If the reports of his death in Pakistan are true, it may indicate stronger ties between al Qaida and Southeast Asian terrorist groups than previously thought.
The US State Department's list of most-wanted terrorists identifies Usman as a bomb-making expert with links to the Philippines-based Abu Sayyaf militant group and the Southeast Asian Jemaah Islamiyah network. It puts a bounty of US $1 million for information leading to his conviction, and says he is believed responsible for bombings in the southern Philippines in 2006 and 2007 that killed 15 people.
The apparent presence of Usman in Waziristan may raise fresh questions as to links between al Qaida in Pakistan and militants in Southeast Asia, which has seen several bloody bombings and failed extremist plots since 2000. Many were carried out by militants who had returned from Afghanistan and Pakistan. The officials cited militant informers as the source of the information on Usman's death _ which could not be independently confirmed. One of them said Usman had been in Waziristan for one year after arriving from Afghanistan.