THE UNITED STATES HAS said that a drone strike in Pakistan has killed Al Qaeda’s number two leader.
Abu Yahya al-Libi is reported to have been charged with the day-to-day operations of the terrorist organisation in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
The anonymous official said that the drone strike took place in Pakistan’s northwest tribal region where its reported at least 14 people died in the strike.
The White House spokesperson Jay Carney confirmed the death of al-Libi but did not go into detail about the circumstances.
BBC News reports that there has been no confirmation of the militant’s death from sources in Pakistan.
The death of Abu Yahya al-Libi is a significant blow to the terror network, which has lost a string of top leaders at the hands of the American drone program.
The program has intensified significantly in the wake of the US Navy SEALs operation which killed Osama bin Laden, the leader of Al Qaeda, in May of last year. He was succeeded by the Egyptian born Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss intelligence matters, says that no one left in Al Qaeda comes close to replacing the expertise the organisation has just lost.
Al-Libi, a hero in militant circles for his 2005 escape from an American military prison in Afghanistan, was elevated to the number two spot when al-Zawahri rose to replace the slain bin Laden.
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