By Robert Windrem, NBC News producer
Where is accused terrorist
Adam Gadahn?
That’s what Taliban sources along the Afghan-Pakistan border are wondering about the American-born al-Qaida member. Gadahn, known as Azzam al-Ameriki (Azzam the American), joined al-Qaida in 2003 and has appeared in several bombastic al-Qaida videos since then. Federal prosecutors indicted the Californian for treason in October 2006, and he's now on the
FBI's Most Wanted List.
U.S. intelligence officials have heard the same rumors, but tell NBC News that they have no information to suggest Gadahn is dead. They specifically deny that Gadahn was killed in the same Predator missile attack that killed al-Qaida’s #4, Abu Laith al-Libi, last week near the town of Mir Ali in Pakistan’s North Waziristan province. Gadahn was visiting Mir Ali at the time, according to a local man who describes himself as a friend of Gadahn’s.
Jihadist sources on the Pakistan side of the border are telling local journalists they are worried. One who described himself as a “very close friend” of Gadahn said the 28-year-old California native had until recently been spending most of his time in the populated areas of South Waziristan, near the towns of Wana, Azam Warsak and Shahkai.
The same friend said Gadahn had left for North Waziristan a week before the Predator attack in Mir Ali, where he was supposed to attend “an important meeting”. The friend said that, after the Predator attack on January 31, they lost “all contact” with Gadahn.
"All our friends are worried about him but so far we could not make any contact with him. We had sent two of our friends to Mir Ali to locate him and provide us with details about him," the supposed friend explained.
He added that other militants who traveled with Gadahn also were missing.
The self-described friend said Gadahn and his comrades may have decided to remain silent due to security reasons, or perhaps Gadahn was killed in the attack
Both intelligence and law enforcement sources says they have heard the same reports, but they tell NBC News they do not believe that Gadahn was killed in the Predator attack. However, they note that they are having difficulty determining the identities of the 13 people killed in the attacks.
Gadahn was last heard from on January 6,when a jihadist website posted several links to a 50-minute video featuring Gadahn, released by the media arm of Al-Qaida. Gadahn delivered most of the statement in English, but spoke in Arabic on several occasions to deliver Koranic recitations, religious rhetoric, and messages to Arabic speaking persons. One of these Arabic statements called on Muslims to greet President Bush during his January trip to the Middle East with "bombs and booby-traps."
Gadahn also suggested the U.S. had lost in both Afghanistan and Iraq. “How, Americans might ask, is it possible that the strongest and best-equipped army on earth has been defeated by lightly-armed mujahidin? The answer is self-evident: Right triumphs over might!” he said.
The U.S. government is offering a $1 million reward for information which leads to Gadahn’s capture.
--With reporting by Mushtaq Yusufzai in Pakistan
