WASHINGTON, Jan 9: An Amercian counter-terrorism official confirmed on Friday that an unmanned CIA drone aircraft killed four top Al

Qaeda operatives in Fata on

Jan 1.

One of the suspects, Usama Al-Kini, allegedly masterminded the September 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad and the October 2007 attack on a convoy carrying former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

Another man killed was Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan. Both were believed to have been involved in the 1998 bombings of US embassies in East Africa.