US National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley on Sunday welcomed reports a top al Qaeda leader, Hamza Rabia, had been killed in Pakistan but said Washington was not in a position to confirm his death.
"We have seen those reports out of Pakistan," Hadley said on Fox News. "Obviously, we're looking into them. "At this point, we are not in a position publicly to confirm that he is dead," President George W. Bush's national security adviser said.
"If he has been killed, that's a good thing for the war on terror," Hadley added. "Hamza Rabia is a bad guy." He said Rabia had taken over as "head of operations" for al Qaeda after the May capture in Pakistan of Abu Faraj al-Libbi.
"(Rabia) was involved in planning two assassination plots against Musharraf," Hadley said.
However, Al-Arabiya television has said that it had been contacted by a person claiming to be from al Qaeda who denied that Hamza was dead.