Al-Qaeda terrorist and Mumbai terror attack mastermind Ilyas Kashmiri were among nine militants killed in a US drone strike, BBC reported today, quoting residents of South Waziristan tribal region.

A government official in Peshawar apparently told BBCUrdu that although he had received reports regarding the death of Kashmiri in this drone strike, he was not in a position to confirm the same.

BBCUrdu quoted an official in South Waziristan as saying that a US drone attack targeted a group of armed militants 20 kilometres from Wana bazaar in the east, in the Liman area, when they were drinking tea in an apple orchard.

He was also among the list of five terrorists whom, according to an Associated Press report, the US expected Pakistan to provide intelligence about immediately and possibly target in joint operations.

Apart from Kashmiri, the list also includes Osama bin Laden's deputy Ayman al-Zawahiri, Afghan Taliban chief Mullah Omar, Commander Siraj Haqqani and Atiya Abdel Rahman, the Libyan operations chief of Al Qaida.

Locals and witnesses told apparently told BBCUrdu that Kashmiri had also been killed in the drone attack. Kashmiri, according to an eye-witness, who spoke to BBCUrdu on conditions of anonymity, had arrived in South Waziristan from the Khyber tribal region some 10 days back and had reached the orchard only half an hour prior to the attack in a vehicle with the other men, BBC Urdu reported.

Kashmiri was the chief of the Harkatul Jihad al-Islami (HJI), an organisation affiliated with al Qaeda.

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