A missile fired by remote control from a pilotless CIA aircraft has killed a suspected al-Qaeda official in southeastern Afghanistan, US officials said.
"It was a CIA Predator missile that was fired upon what was thought to be a senior al-Qaeda official," said the official. He said the attack took place on Monday night.
"At least one was killed and possibly others. It's not clear who the individual was," the official said today, adding that bad weather in the region had prevented a mission to identify bodies.
The person who was killed in the attack was taller than the handful of others surrounding him, leading to some speculation it could have been bin Laden.
Bin Laden, whose height is estimated on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list to be - six feet, four inches to six feet, six inches - is blamed by the United States for the September 11th attacks on America that killed about 3,000 people.
But another US official said several al-Qaeda leaders were tall, including Mr Ayman al-Zawahri, bin Laden's top lieutenant.
US officials believe it was an al-Qaeda leader because of the manner in which the others around him were paying homage. "You can tell from overhead that one guy's the centre of attention," the official said.
But the official said the identity of the dead man was not yet known and there were no other indicators in the aftermath of the missile attack to suggest bin Laden had been killed.
CIA director Mr George Tenet yesterday told the Senate Intelligence Committee he did not know if bin Laden was dead or alive.