Al Qaeda operative and bomb expert Abu Ubaida al-Masri, one of the terror group's top 10 leaders, is dead, a U.S. official confirmed to FOX News Wednesday.
Al-Masri was responsible for the organization’s external operations, meaning he plotted attacks outside the tribal areas of Pakistan.
A recent Los Angeles Times report described al-Masri as a "stocky Egyptian explosives expert with two missing fingers" who, as chief of external operations for Al Qaeda, has one of the most dangerous jobs in international terrorism.
The unidentified official said it is believed that al-Masri died of natural causes, possibly hepatitis, in Pakistan, and are staying away from a report that he was killed in a January CIA predator strike.
Al-Masri is tied to two major terrorist attack plots. The first being the 2005 London subway bombing, in which al-Masri is credited with recruiting, training and directing the homicide bombers. The second attack is associated is the liquid explosives bomb plot to blow up transatlantic flights bound for the U.S. and Canada in the summer of 2006.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,348668,00.html
