WASHINGTON, Jan. 13 (Xinhuanet) -- The fate of al-Qaida terror network's No. 2 leader Ayman al-Zawahiri is unclear after a U.S. airstrike on a Pakistani village which left 18 dead on Friday, U.S. TV networks reported.

    Citing U.S. military sources, NBC said the strike targeted Zawahiri, who has been indicted in the United States for his role in 1998 attacks on U.S. embassies in Africa.

    ABC quoted Pakistani military sources as saying that five of those killed were "high level al-Qaida figures," whose bodies are undergoing forensic tests for identification.

    Zawahiri may have been one of the victims, it said. Quoting Pakistani sources, NBC said the airstrike was probably carried out by CIA Predator drones which fired up to 10 missiles in the village in the tribal areas of eastern Pakistan. However, officials at CIA headquarters in Washington declined to comment on the reports and the Pentagon denied that the U.S. military has ever carried out any such attack in the area.

    Nevertheless, the CIA is also known to conduct its own operations along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in the hunt foral-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden and his deputies.

    According to ABC, Zawahiri has been known to hide out in the village over the past year.

    An Egyptian native and former medical doctor, Zawahiri has become al Qaida's most senior spokesman in videos released in recent months as his master, bin Laden, has kept a low profile for a long time.

    He appeared in a new video released last week, making some believe that he has become the group's effective leader.

    Zawahiri, along with al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, have long escaped capture since U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. Enditem