Osama bin Laden
The international terrorist group has seen a continuous hit on its leadership since the death of its leader, Osama bin Laden, last year.
The international terrorist group, Al-Qaeda, has confirmed the killing of its deputy leader, Abu Yahya Al-Libi, in a U.S. drone strike earlier this year in Pakistan.
The group confirmed the death in a video posted online on Tuesday.
The U.S. announced Mr. Al-Libi’s death in June, after a series of attacks on al-Qaeda since the killing of Osama bin Laden last year.
“I proudly announce to the Muslim nation and to the Mujahideen … the news of the martyrdom of the lion of Libya Sheikh Hassan Mohammed Qaed,’’ al-Qaeda leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, said in a video, referring to al-Libi by one of his aliases.
The U.S. had said that deputy leader of the sect was among the 15 people killed in a twin drone attack in North Waziristan, one of the seven tribal districts in the north-west of Pakistan where militants linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda are active.
Mr. Al-Libi, a Libyan, was the second man in al-Qaeda, overseeing operations in Pakistan and outreach to regional affiliates.
In 2005 he escaped from a high-security U.S. prison in Bagram, Afghanistan. This is the first confirmation of Mr. Al-Libi’s death by al-Qaeda, though Mr. Al-Zawahiri did not say how he was killed.
“The martyrdom of our martyrs will make the message of jihad more widespread, accepted and give it firmer roots,’’ Mr. Al-Zawahiri said.
The video comes one day after Yemen announced that Said Ali al-Shihri, al-Qaeda’s second in command in the Arabian Peninsula, was killed in an air raid.
dpa/NAN
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