Washington, June 01: U.S. intelligence agencies believe al Qaeda’s No. 3 leader was killed recently in a missile strike in the tribal areas of Pakistan, officials said on Monday.
The CIA has stepped up the pace of unmanned aerial drone attacks, targeting not only high-level al Qaeda and Taliban targets but largely unknown foot soldiers as well.
A U.S. official said Sheikh Sa’id al-Masri, also known as Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, was widely seen as the group’s No. 3 figure and its main conduit to leader Osama bin Laden. As al Qaeda’s chief operating officer, he had a hand in everything from finances to operational planning.
“We have strong reason to believe … that al-Masri was killed recently in Pakistan’s tribal areas,” the official said on condition of anonymity. “In terms of counterterrorism, this would be a big victory.”
In March, U.S. officials said a drone strike in Pakistan killed a key al Qaeda planner.
CIA Director Leon Panetta has asserted that attacks against al Qaeda in Pakistan’s tribal regions appear to have driven bin Laden and other leaders deeper into hiding, leaving the organization incapable of planning sophisticated operations.
But the White House warned last week of a dangerous “new phase” in the terrorism threat, citing the failed Christmas Day bombing of a U.S. airliner and the botched Times Square car bomb attempt earlier this month.
—-Agencies