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Strike Is Said to Kill a Top Qaeda Leader
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON — The operational leader for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan was killed in an American missile strike in Pakistan’s tribal areas in the last two weeks, according to a statement the group issued late Monday that American officials believe is correct.
The militant leader, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, an Egyptian, was a top financial chief for Al Qaeda as well as one of the group’s founders, and was considered by American intelligence officials to be the organization’s No. 3 leader, behind Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, another Egyptian.
“His death will only be a severe curse by his life upon the infidels,” Al Qaeda said in a statement issued to jihadist Web sites and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors statements by jihadists.
A United States official said American intelligence analysts believed the statement from Al Qaeda was accurate. They said the death of Mr. Yazid, also known as Saeed al-Masri, was a significant setback to Al Qaeda’s ability to help plan and support cross-border attacks against American and allied forces in Afghanistan from its haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Mr. Yazid was killed on May 22 in a drone attack in North Waziristan, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said on Tuesday. The official said he was in the village of Boya, about 16 miles along a dirt track west from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, when the missile struck.
Mr. Yazid was considered to be the overall commander for al Qaeda for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the official said.
“In terms of counterterrorism, this would be a big victory,” said the American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Al-Masri was the group’s chief operating officer, with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning. He was also the organization’s prime conduit to bin Laden and Zawahri.”
“His death would be a major blow to Al Qaeda, which in December lost both its internal and external operations chiefs,” the official said.
Mr. Yazid, 54, appeared in numerous video releases from as-Sahab, the media arm of Al Qaeda, since his first appearance on May 26, 2007, when he was formally introduced to the jihadist online community, according to SITE.
Shortly after the suicide bombing against the C.I.A. base in Khost, Afghanistan, in December, in which seven C.I.A. operatives and a Jordanian intelligence officer were killed, Mr. Yazid issued a statement praising the work of the bomber, Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, and said that the bombing was revenge for the killings of a number of top militant leaders in C.I.A. drone attacks.
Under President Obama, the C.I.A. has steadily increased the number of missile attacks against targets in Pakistan’s tribal areas by remotely piloted Predator and Reaper drones. As of May 28, the C.I.A. had carried out 38 strikes this year, compared with 53 for all of 2009, according to The Long War Journal, a Web site that tracks the number of strikes.
The C.I.A. has previously killed many of Mr. Yazid’s predecessors in Al Qaeda’s No. 3 slot. Mr. Yazid was reported to have been killed by an airstrike in Pakistan before, in August 2008, only to reemerge and resume his operations.
Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan.
By ERIC SCHMITT
WASHINGTON — The operational leader for Al Qaeda in Afghanistan was killed in an American missile strike in Pakistan’s tribal areas in the last two weeks, according to a statement the group issued late Monday that American officials believe is correct.
The militant leader, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, an Egyptian, was a top financial chief for Al Qaeda as well as one of the group’s founders, and was considered by American intelligence officials to be the organization’s No. 3 leader, behind Osama bin Laden and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahri, another Egyptian.
“His death will only be a severe curse by his life upon the infidels,” Al Qaeda said in a statement issued to jihadist Web sites and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, which monitors statements by jihadists.
A United States official said American intelligence analysts believed the statement from Al Qaeda was accurate. They said the death of Mr. Yazid, also known as Saeed al-Masri, was a significant setback to Al Qaeda’s ability to help plan and support cross-border attacks against American and allied forces in Afghanistan from its haven in Pakistan’s tribal areas.
Mr. Yazid was killed on May 22 in a drone attack in North Waziristan, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said on Tuesday. The official said he was in the village of Boya, about 16 miles along a dirt track west from Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, when the missile struck.
Mr. Yazid was considered to be the overall commander for al Qaeda for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the official said.
“In terms of counterterrorism, this would be a big victory,” said the American official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. “Al-Masri was the group’s chief operating officer, with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning. He was also the organization’s prime conduit to bin Laden and Zawahri.”
“His death would be a major blow to Al Qaeda, which in December lost both its internal and external operations chiefs,” the official said.
Mr. Yazid, 54, appeared in numerous video releases from as-Sahab, the media arm of Al Qaeda, since his first appearance on May 26, 2007, when he was formally introduced to the jihadist online community, according to SITE.
Shortly after the suicide bombing against the C.I.A. base in Khost, Afghanistan, in December, in which seven C.I.A. operatives and a Jordanian intelligence officer were killed, Mr. Yazid issued a statement praising the work of the bomber, Humam Khalil Abu Mulal al-Balawi, and said that the bombing was revenge for the killings of a number of top militant leaders in C.I.A. drone attacks.
Under President Obama, the C.I.A. has steadily increased the number of missile attacks against targets in Pakistan’s tribal areas by remotely piloted Predator and Reaper drones. As of May 28, the C.I.A. had carried out 38 strikes this year, compared with 53 for all of 2009, according to The Long War Journal, a Web site that tracks the number of strikes.
The C.I.A. has previously killed many of Mr. Yazid’s predecessors in Al Qaeda’s No. 3 slot. Mr. Yazid was reported to have been killed by an airstrike in Pakistan before, in August 2008, only to reemerge and resume his operations.
Ismail Khan contributed reporting from Peshawar, Pakistan.
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