There were reports Friday evening the U.S. tried to take out al Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zahwahiri inside Pakistan but within a relatively close distance of the border with Afghanistan. No word yet on whether they were successful.

An excerpt from the BBC story:

At least 17 people were killed in the raid but it remains unclear if Ayman al-Zawahiri was among them.

The Pakistani information minister said he was unable to confirm the attack.

Quoting intelligence sources, US media said it was a CIA raid. The US military says it is not aware of any operations taking place in the Bajaur tribal area.

The BBC's Zaffar Abbas in Karachi says tribesmen there are convinced the strike was the work of the Americans and are very angry at the cross-border attack.

Jets reportedly fired missiles at a particular housing compound in the village, which may have been an al-Qaeda hideout, our correspondent says.

Zawahiri, seen as Osama Bin Laden's second-in-command, has eluded capture since the US toppled the Taleban in Afghanistan in 2001 despite a $25m bounty on his head.

He has recently come to be regarded by the US as the operational head of al-Qaeda because Bin Laden is not in a position to run the network, our correspondent adds.

'Still investigating'

US television networks, quoting Pakistani military sources, say five of those killed in the strike are thought to be senior al-Qaeda members.

Pakistani Information Minister Sheikh Rashid told reporters the authorities were still investigating the reports and he could confirm nothing.