Qaida planner

Washington, April 9 (Reuters): Al Qaida planner Abu Obaidah al Masri, a main suspect in the 2005 London subway and bus bombings and a foiled 2006 plot to blow up passenger planes, is believed dead from natural causes, US and British officials said today.

“There is compelling reason to believe that Abu Obaidah is dead,” a US counterterrorism official said on condition of anonymity. McClatchy newspapers reported that Masri died of hepatitis in Pakistan.

The US official said Masri appeared to have died of natural causes, and a British official said his death had been known to security sources for some time.

“He was a major operational figure,” another US official said of Masri, the nom de guerre of one of the least known of major al Qaida figures.