CIA strike hits al Qaeda planner

A US official says a CIA drone strike in early January killed a key al Qaeda operative who was planning attacks on the West. The official said Thursday the strike on January 10 hit Aslam Awan, who was described as an ``external operations planner' inside the organisation.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to describe the classified program aimed at militants sheltering inside tribal areas. The strike was one of the first after a hiatus of some six weeks, after a controversial friendly fire incident at the border in which US forces fired on Pakistani border outposts, killing 24 troops in a case of mistaken identity.