Al-Qaeda's chief military commander was plotting a new terrorist group called Lashkar-e-Osama to launch a wave of revenge suicide attacks when he was reportedly killed in a drone strike last week, Pakistani officials have claimed.
Ilyas Kashmiri Photo: REUTERS
Ilyas Kashmiri had convened a meeting of militant leaders to discuss hitting foreign embassies and also trying to poison Nato food supplies en route to Afghanistan to avenge the death of Osama bin Laden.
The plans were disclosed as distrust between Washington and Islamabad still surrounded Kashmiri's reported death on June 3.
US officials said their working assumption was that he remained alive despite assurances from Pakistan.
His new squad had plans to target the American, Saudi and Emirati embassies in Pakistan, according to reports.
Kashmiri called Pakistani Taliban commanders, including Asmatullah Maavia, Amjad Farooqui and Badar Mansoor to the meeting in North Waziristan a few days before he was reportedly killed.
They discussed blowing up the American embassy, assassinating visiting Chinese dignitaries and targeting the country's biggest munitions factory in Wah.
Auto rickshaws laden with explosives were suggested as one means of carrying out the attacks.
Large quantities of poison would also be procured to contaminate Nato food supplies passing through Pakistan on their way to troops in Afghanistan, the
Kashmiri had a $5 million (£3 million) bounty on his head and been leader of Harakat-ul-Jihad al-Islam (HUJI) before forming the feared 313 militant brigade.
He was thought to take his orders directly from bin Laden.
Rehman Malik, Pakistan's interior minister, said he could confirm "100 per cent", that Kashmiri had died when a Predator drone fired three missiles into a house in South Waziristan as he and associates drank tea in the garden.
However, US officials have been unable to confirm the death.
One said: "It wouldn't be the first time that reports of his death have been wrong. We're simply unable at this time to confirm reports of Kashmiri's demise. Our working assumption is that he's still walking around."
Auto rickshaws laden with explosives were suggested as one means of carrying out the attacks.
Large quantities of poison would also be procured to contaminate Nato food supplies passing through Pakistan on their way to troops in Afghanistan, the
Kashmiri had a $5 million (£3 million) bounty on his head and been leader of Harakat-ul-Jihad al-Islam (HUJI) before forming the feared 313 militant brigade.
He was thought to take his orders directly from bin Laden.
Rehman Malik, Pakistan's interior minister, said he could confirm "100 per cent", that Kashmiri had died when a Predator drone fired three missiles into a house in South Waziristan as he and associates drank tea in the garden.
However, US officials have been unable to confirm the death.
One said: "It wouldn't be the first time that reports of his death have been wrong. We're simply unable at this time to confirm reports of Kashmiri's demise. Our working assumption is that he's still walking around."
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