DID US KILL BIG FISH IN LATEST PAKISTAN AIRSTRIKE?

Contradicting accounts concerning the latest airstrike by the US military on the border of Pakistan and Afghanistan:

The US military may have conducted its fifth known strike inside Pakistani territory against the Taliban and al Qaeda bases this year, an unnamed Pakistani official told Reuters.

The airstrike is thought to have been carried out inside the Mohmand tribal agency. "There was an attack by a spy plane close to the Afghan border but we don't have information about casualties or damage," the unnamed Pakistani government official said.

There are rumors that a very big fish was killed:

I've gotten a few memos from some insiders that this could be a big fish. How big?

Check out the comments section for some of the public speculation as to why this may be Zawahiri. The gist of which is a) contrary to Pakistani sources, this area is a hotbed of AQ activity b) Zawahiri is said to have married a wife from the Mohmand tribe in order to get their protection c) hence the rumors that Zawahiri is in the area and the speculation that the target was Zawahiri.

There is also this contradicting report:

Pakistan lodged a strong protest with the United States over an "unprovoked and cowardly" air strike by U.S. forces in Afghanistan that killed 11 Pakistani soldiers at a border post.

They died in the Mohmand region, opposite Afghanistan's Kunar province, late on Tuesday as U.S. coalition forces in Afghanistan battled militants attacking from Pakistan, a Pakistani security official said.

The U.S. military said in a statement issued on Wednesday that it had coordinated the artillery and air strike with Pakistan and it was investigating the incident.

Of course, with the stance the Pakistani government has been taking of late concerning the Taliban, it would not surprise me if the "Pakistani troops" and the terrorists were one and the same.