[Harry!]

http://www.kptm.com/default.asp

A U.S. official confirmed to FOX News Wednesday that Al Qaeda operative and bomb expert Abu Ubaida al-Masri is dead.

Al-Masri was one of the top 10 Al Qaeda leaders and was responsible for the organization's external operations, meaning he plotted attacks outside the tribal areas of Pakistan.

The unidentified official said it is believed that al-Masri died of natural causes, possibly hepatitis, in Pakistan, and are staying away from a report that he was killed in a January CIA predator strike.

Al-Masri is tied to two major terrorist attack plots. The first being the 2005 London subway bombing, in which al-Masri is credited with recruiting, training and directing the homicide bombers. The second attack with which al-Masri is associated is the liquid explosives bomb plot to blow up transatlantic flights bound for the U.S. and Canada in the summer of 2006.

U.S. officials say al-Masri has probably been dead for several months, with no explanation as to why news of his death was not released sooner.

Few have heard of al-Masri outside a select circle of anti-terrorism officials and Islamic militants, the L.A. Times reported. And as reports of his death repeatedly proved false, he managed to stay one step ahead of security forces that hunted him in Pakistan.

"Abu Ubaida al Masri" is an alias, and officials have yet to learn the mysterious operative's real name, the Times reported.

"He is considered capable and dangerous," an unidentified British official told the L.A. Times. "He is not at the very top of Al Qaeda, but has been part of the core circle for a long time. He is someone who has emerged and grabbed our attention as others were caught or eliminated in the last couple of years. Perhaps he rose faster than he would have otherwise."

Al-Masri's emergence seems to reflect Al Qaeda's resilience, wherein leaders fall or are caught, and mid-level chiefs step up with determination to replace them, the L.A. Times reported.

Masri was in his mid-40s according to a German investigative file, the Times reported. His alias means "The Egyptian Father of Ubaida." Little is known about his youth. He belongs to a generation of Egyptians who have dominated Al Qaeda since they fought the Soviets in Afghanistan in the 1970s and 80s, the L.A. Times reported.