Close but not cigar.  Almost only counts in horseshoes and hand grenades.  Did they really?  Or is this just BS to keep US funds flowing?

Pakistani troops narrowly missed a recent opportunity to capture al-Qaeda number two Ayman al-Zawahiri, an official said.

A location in Mohmand tribal region on the Afghan border was attacked after Zawahiri’s wife was seen there, said Interior Ministry chief Rehman Malik.

But the soldiers did not find the couple, he said.

Zawahiri was number two – behind only bin Laden – in the 22 “most wanted terrorists” list announced by the US government in 2001 and continues to have a $25m bounty on his head.

Zawahiri was reportedly last seen in the eastern Afghan town of Khost in October 2001, and went into hiding after the fall of the Taleban.

He escaped a US missile strike in January 2006 near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan aimed at killing him.