CIA spy plane's missile kills one in Afghanistan, U.S. official says

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

WASHINGTON -- A remote-controlled CIA spy plane fired a missile at a group of people in Afghanistan and killed at least one person who may have been a top al-Qaida leader, a U.S. official said Wednesday.

The Predator spy drone fired a Hellfire missile Monday in a rural area of eastern Afghanistan, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The people were outdoors and not in vehicles, and authorities believe the person killed may have been a leader in Osama bin Laden's network, the official said.

A group of vehicles had gathered, and people got out of them before the attack, the official said.

U.S. forces in Afghanistan were preparing to take possession of as many as 60 more Taliban and al-Qaida prisoners held by Afghan forces, a senior U.S. defense official said. The number of prisoners in U.S. custody in Afghanistan has stood at 324 for more than a week; there also are 158 al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners held at the U.S. Navy base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

It was not clear Wednesday whether any of the additional 60 prisoners to be turned over later this week in Afghanistan were senior figures in either al-Qaida or the Taliban militia that supported it. Officials said it was possible that U.S. officials would not accept all the prisoners offered.

The transfer of al-Qaida and Taliban prisoners from Afghanistan to Guantanamo Bay resumed Wednesday with an Air Force C-17 transport plane taking off from Kandahar, Afghanistan.

At the Pentagon, a senior defense official said about 30 prisoners were aboard the C-17, the first flight in a planned series of about five to Guantanamo Bay over the next 10 days to two weeks.

After a series of flights between Jan. 11 and 21, Rumsfeld halted the process while more cells were built. A new group of 160 cells is now ready to receive prisoners, officials said Wednesday.

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