A Chequer-Board of Nights and Days

Today, according to Pakistani military sources, U.S. aircraft attacked a compound known to be frequented by high-level al Qaeda operatives. Pakistani officials tell ABC News that al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's top lieutenant, may have been among them.

U.S. intelligence for the last few days indicated that Zawahiri might have been in the location or about to arrive, although there is still no confirmation from U.S. officials that he was among the victims.

The attack took place early this morning Pakistan time in a small village a few miles from the border with Afghanistan.

Villagers described seeing an unmanned plane circling the area for the last few days and then bombs falling in the early morning darkness.

Eighteen people were killed, according to the villagers who said women and children were among the fatalities.

But Pakistani officials tell ABC News that five of those killed were high-level al Qaeda figures, and their bodies are now undergoing forensic tests for positive identification.

Well, we shall see what happens. Given that al-Zawahiri is the brains behind the al Qaeda operation and has been for many years, and given that as soon as I learned about him (after the September 11th attacks), I said that if I had to choose between capturing/killing him and capturing/killing bin Laden, I would take the former, I would, of course, be quite pleased to learn that he has been rubbed out. But this does not change the fact that a struggle of immense proportions has to continue for some time against al Qaeda (which is sufficiently decentralized to survive attacks against its leaders) and terrorism itself (which continues to plague us). Clichés, I know. But they need to be said nonetheless.

UPDATE: Maybe he's just resting.