Washington - A senior al-Qaeda leader who ran operations in
Afghanistan and was an expert in guerilla warfare, Abu Laith al-
Libi, has been killed in a 'serious blow' to the terrorist network, a
western official said Thursday.
The official would not divulge the circumstances surrounding the
death of al-Libi, but described him as a top al-Qaeda operative of
Libyan descent who specialized in paramilitary activities along the
Afghan-Pakistani border.
'It appears at this point that Abu Laith al-Libi is dead,' said
the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
'At least for the near term his death deals a serious blow to al-
Qaeda's operational planning in the region,' the official told
Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
It remained unclear whether al-Libi, considered by some in the US
intelligence community to be the third ranking al-Qaeda operative and
a key Osama bin Laden lieutenant, was killed by an apparent US
missile strike in Pakistan's North Waziristan district on Monday. A
dozen suspected militants died in the attack.
The United States has in the past used armed unmanned airplanes
called Predators to target militants along the border and sometimes
inside Pakistan, said John Pike, an expert at Globalsecurity.org.
'Special forces and CIA typically use armed Predators because they
can quickly respond to actionable intelligence,' he said. 'They can
track people, and when the time is right to hit them, they hit them.'
The western official said al-Libi 'recently' died but did not
provide a date. 'It's safe to say that he's among the top half-dozen
senior al- Qaeda leaders,' and was responsible for attacks against US
and coalition troops in Afghanistan, the official added.
'It's a very good thing he is no longer part of the picture,' the
official said.
US Defence Secretary Robert Gates would not confirm al-Libi's
death. 'I don't have anything definitive for you on that,' he told
reporters.
The Pentagon's Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) lists al-Libi's
age at 41. The agency described him as Arabic speaking with a
Maghreb/Morrocan dialect and as having scars on his back that appear
to come from being struck by a belt or wire.
He was believed to use a dental bridge that would help identify
him, DIA said.
The region is long believed to serve as a refuge for al-Qaeda and
the Taliban. Many terrorism experts suspect bin Laden could be hiding
inside the lawless area. Al-Libi was believed to be the target of an
unsuccessful US military strike in eastern Afghanistan in June.
The Washington-based SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors
Islamist websites, said a banner was posted Thursday on an al-Qaeda
affiliated site, al-Ekhaas, announcing al-Libi was killed on Monday
and referred to him as a 'martyr.'
Al-Libi headed the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG), which
worked closely with al-Qaeda and eventually merged with the network
in 2007, the official said. According to SITE, al-Libi appeared in
several videos linked to al-Qaeda's media arm, al-Sahab.
A local official in North Waziristan said the missile likely came
from Afghan soil and targeted a house of a local tribal leader. There
was no official confirmation of the attack by the Pakistani
government.
Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, a key US ally in the war on
terrorism, has deployed more than 100,000 troops to contain the
Islamic militants in the border region. Washington has pressed
Pakistan to do more to eliminate Taliban hideouts and its forces have
carried out occasional airstrikes in the area.
USA
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