WASHINGTON - A U.S. official says two Kenyans said to be among al Qaeda's top operatives on the FBI's most wanted terrorist list were killed New Year's Eve in a U.S. strike in Pakistan.

One of them, Usama al-Kini, is believed by U.S. intelligence to be behind the September 2008 Marriott Hotel bombing in Islamabad.

He is also fingered as the man behind the October 2007 attack on a convoy carrying Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto. She was killed in a separate attack in late 2007.

The other man killed was Sheikh Ahmed Salim Swedan. Both were involved in the 1998 bombings of U.S. embassies in East Africa.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity in order to discuss sensitive U.S. intelligence.