The BBC, Reuters, and Fox News are quoting an un-named U.S. official suggesting that Obaidah al Masri has died in Pakistan.

Senior al Qaeda planner Obaidah al Masri, considered a key suspect in the 2005 London subway and bus bombings and a foiled 2006 plot to blow up commercial airliners, is believed to have died, a U.S. official said on Wednesday.

“The sense is that he is dead,” the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. McClatchy newspapers reported that Masri died of hepatitis in Pakistan. The official said Masri appeared to have died of natural causes.

“He was a major operational figure,” the U.S. official said of al Masri, a pseudonym.

He confirmed that Masri was suspected in the plot to blow up airliners over the Atlantic Ocean. The Washington Post in 2006 also said he was believed to be al Qaeda’s conduit to British-Pakistani cells that carried out the July 7, 2005, public transit bombings. The bombings killed 56 people. [Reuters]

FOX News notices that,

The news of al-Masri’s death comes just hours before the House Select Intelligence Committee is set to hold an open hearing on “Assessing the Fight Against Al Qaeda.”

[...]

Terrorism investigators are expected to present evidence showing that the terror organization’s network has weakened, according to prepared testimony obtained by FOX News. Experts will also discuss the hydra-like nature of Al Qaeda leadership in explaining the difficulty in fighting the terror organization, as new militants continually emerge.

That “hydra-like” nature is one of the key differences and challenges of the war against radical Islam and terrorism. Any good news regarding the death or capture of these so called leaders has to be tempered with the understanding that there are more cockroaches ready to crawl out from under whatever rock we turn over. Still, buh bye. Hope you like it warm.