Al-Qaeda number two believed killed in drone strike

[Shah-i-Kot]

http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-15142-Al-Qaeda-number-two-believed-killed-in-drone-strike

Al-Qaeda number two believed killed in drone strike


Mushtaq Yusufzai
Wednesday, June 06, 2012
From Print Edition





PESHAWAR: There are strong indications that al-Qaeda’s No two and top strategist of the global terror network, Abu Yahya al-Libbi, was killed in the Monday drone attack in the Hasukhel village of Mir Ali subdivision.

Security officials based in the tribal region said they had intercepted internal conversations of militants in which they said the “Sheikh” had been martyred.

The drone had initially fired two missiles and pounded a house where six people were reportedly killed and five others injured. As neighbours and a group of militants arrived there to rescue victims of the drone strikes, the unmanned spy planes which were still hovering over the area fired two more missiles and killed another 10 people.

Most of the officials and Taliban sources said that Abu Yahya al-Libbi was killed in the second attack while some officials said he was seriously injured and taken to hospital where he expired.

Yahya al-Libbi was considered to be one of the few remaining top figures within al-Qaeda’s core.

One by one, most of al-Qaeda’s senior leadership has been killed in drone strikes in the tribal areas, a majority of them in North Waziristan and South Waziristan tribal regions.

Abu Yahya al-Libbi, whose real name was Mohamad Hassan Qaed, belonged to Libya, and was presently serving number two to al-Qaeda chief Dr Ayman al-Zawahiri, the Egyptian doctor who took over al-Qaeda after bin Laden’s death on May 2, 2011 in Abbottabad.

Taliban sources said after his escape from a US detention center in Afghanistan on July 10, 2005, al-Libbi came to Pakistan and settled in North Waziristan. “He initially lived in the Dattakhel area of North Waziristan near the Afghan border, but later when the CIA started the drone strikes and killed a number of Arab fighters, he moved to Miranshah and later shifted to Mir Ali. He was a highly learned religious scholars and used to “issue fatwas on difficult issues,” a sources in Mir Ali said.

Also, sources said he was widely respected by the local tribespeople in Mir Ali as he was seen urging Pakistani militants to stop their fight against their own government and concentrate on Afghanistan. They said he had always led Eid prayers in the area.

Some Afghan Taliban close to him denied his death and said that this is not the first time the US had claimed to have killed him. “The Americans are actually suffering heavy losses in Afghanistan at the hands of the Mujahideen, which is why they made a claim of killing a senior al-Qaeda leader,” a member of the Afghan Taliban said. Al-Libbi was also declared dead in December 2009 in a similar drone attack in NWA.

In May 2011, shortly after bin Laden’s death, US officials identified Abu Yahya as one of five potential successors to the slain al-Qaeda leaders. If true, Abu Yahya would be the fourth of the five to have been killed in drone strikes.

Ilyas Kashmiri, al-Qaeda’s director of external operations, was killed on June 3, 2011 in Wana, while Abdul Rahman Atiya, bin Laden’s chief of staff, was killed on Aug 22.

[Shah-i-Kot]

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Qa...607/story.html


Al Qaida's number two 'escaped drone strike'




By Rob Crilly and Nazar Ul Islam, The Daily Telegraph June 5, 2012 6:02 PM









Pakistani militants have claimed that al-Qaida's second-in-command cheated death after American officials confirmed they had launched a drone strike against him.
U.S. officials initially said they were "optimistic" that Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed when missiles destroyed his vehicle and a militant compound in North Waziristan, leaving 15 dead.
However, a senior militant figure later told The Daily Telegraph that Libi was not caught in the attack. "The vehicle belonged to al-Libi but at the time he wasn't in the vehicle," said a Pakistan Taliban commander.
Confirming the deaths of militant leaders in drone strikes is notoriously difficult. It can take weeks for the truth to emerge from the lawless border areas.
The death of Libi, a close aide to Osama bin Laden's successor Ayman al-Zawahiri, would be a major blow to what is left of al-Qaida's core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He would be among more than 12 senior al-Qaida leaders assassinated since bin Laden was tracked down and killed by U.S. Navy Seals in May last year.
Three separate drone strikes were launched from Saturday to Monday, killing at least 30 people, according to local sources. The third barrage comprised two missiles, which slammed into a compound and a vehicle in the village of Hesokhel, near Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan, before dawn.
Pakistani intelligence officials said they had evidence that Libi was at the scene at the time of the strike.
A Western security analyst, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: "The high intensity of strikes suggest there is some sort of good intelligence that a high-value target is in the area."
Pakistan condemned the drone strike, summoning the U.S. charge d'affaires to express it's "serious concerns" over the tactic. The attack was launched at a time of increased tensions between Washington and Islamabad, following the conviction two weeks ago of a doctor who helped to track down bin Laden.
Libi, a Libyan citizen believed to be in his late forties, was thought dead in 2009 only to re-emerge months later, churning out propaganda messages.
He carries a $1?million (pounds 650,000) U.S. bounty on his head and was captured in 2002 when Nato forces overran Afghanistan. He escaped in an al-Qaida breakout three years later, increasing his cachet in militant circles.
Some terrorism experts believe he took over as deputy leader last year, following the death of Atiyah abd al-Rahman also in a drone strike in North Waziristan.
Whatever his actual position, he is known as a propagandist and ideologue. Analysts believe he serves as al-Qaida's "general manager", overseeing operations in Pakistan's tribal belt and responsible for liaising with other militant groups in the area.
Ben Venzke, an analyst at the U.S.-based IntelCenter, said that Libi's death would be a severe blow to international jihadi groups. "The loss of Abu Yahya al-Libi would be felt throughout the jihadi community as he has been one of the most visible jihadi figures from any of the groups around the world, with prolific video releases and writings," he said.
Drone strikes are highly controversial in Pakistan, where many believe they serve as a recruiting sergeant for al-Qaida.
At the same time, a letter retrieved from Osama bin Laden's Pakistani hideout shows how effective they have been in hurting al-Qaida.
In it, the former leader warned his "brothers" in North Waziristan to travel only under cloud cover in order to thwart the drones.
The rate of attacks has slowed during the past year as relations between Washington and Islamabad soured.
However, they have intensified in ferocity during the past fortnight after the U.S. and Pakistan failed to reach an agreement over Nato supply lines during talks in Chicago.
The Pakistani parliament has asked for an end to the strikes as part of a deal to allow Nato supplies through its territory to Afghanistan.

[Shah-i-Kot]

This guy "escaped" from Bagram several years ago. It does not make sense how an AQ person was able to escape from Bagram.

Looks like thought all the drone strikes are being done purely to get reelected.

[randolph85]

well the drone strikes have been happening for years so that doesn't make much sense.

[Shah-i-Kot]

What does not make sense is how Libbi, AQ number 2, escaped Bagram prison? Right, does not makes sense.

There has been as escalation in drone strikes as Pakistan did not open the NATO supply routes through Torkham and Chaman, and the talks were going nowhere.

[randolph85]

so what is your point? that AQ is supported by the west?