(Previous Incident Code: Ob58 )

Jamal Saeed Abdul Rahim was reportedly killed with up to four others, including al Qaeda bodyguard in a strike on buildings belonging to Rasta Barkhan, described as ‘a tribesman closely linked to the Taliban by the Long War Journal. Abdul Rahim was a suspect in a Karachi plane hijacking a quarter of a century earlier in which 20 passengers died.

No civilian casualties have so far been reported for this strike.

The FBI’s website says that Mr Rahim has a $5m bounty on his head and is wanted for his alleged role in the 1986 hijacking of Pan American World Airways flight [173]. (BBC News).

However Rahim’s name remained on the US government’s wanted list – Rewards for Justice – in 2015. Other names of men killed in drone strikes had remained on the list after their reported deaths before being quietly expunged at a later date. That Rahim remained there five years after his death raises questions over his reported demise. Among the others killed in the strike was Mansur al Shami aka Mahmoud Mahdi Zeiden, reportedly the bodyguard for al Qaeda ‘No. 3’ Sheikh Mustafa Abu al Yazid. His brother confirmed his death to AP. After the strike, security officials told AFP: ‘A US drone fired two missiles, which hit a compound used by militants as a training centre’.