Jan 31, 2008, 21:37 GMT
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.
Your Talkback on this Story