More evidence that last Friday's missile attack, attempting to kill al-Qaeda no. 2 Ayman al-Zawahiri, did indeed do damage to Al-Qaeda:

ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN -- One is believed to be a chemical weapons expert, another allegedly plotted assassinations. A third planned attacks targeting U.S. troops, while a son-in-law publicized their exploits in the name of al-Qaida and recruited militants.

Now this top group is believed to have been wiped out by a U.S. missile strike. If true, it's far from a death blow to al-Qaida, but analysts say it could weaken the group's operations in Afghanistan, which has seen an alarming rise in suicide attacks.

The strike apparently missed al-Qaida second-in-command Ayman al-Zawahri and an audiotape aired yesterday, the first public communication from Osama bin Laden in more than a year, suggests the network's figureheads are alive. But the possible demise of four top lieutenants reported by Pakistani officials would rob al-Qaida of people controlling daily operations.

"It's a very significant blow to al-Qaida," said Rohan Gunaratna, a terrorism expert at the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore. "These are very experienced leaders and to replace them in the short term will be very difficult."

Last Friday's attack on an Islamic holiday gathering in Damadola killed 13 villagers in the Pakistani hamlet near the Afghan border and possibly four or five foreign militants whose bodies were reportedly spirited away by sympathizers.

Old, mainstream media parroted the notion that the attack was a mistake, highlighting above all else the unfortunate deaths of those innocent civilians present, while completely ignoring the possibility that the strike might have actually hit and killed some valuable al-Qaeda personnel. That possibility now seems increasingly a probability.