The Wall Street Journal-20080201-Al Qaeda Chieftain Is Believed Killed By U-S- in Pakistan
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Al Qaeda Chieftain Is Believed Killed By U.S. in Pakistan
Full Text (343 words)WASHINGTON -- A U.S. missile strike inside Pakistan's tribal areas is believed to have killed a senior al Qaeda commander this week, signaling a stepped-up Bush-administration effort to combat militants operating in the remote region along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.
U.S. officials confirmed that a missile from a Central Intelligence Agency-operated Predator drone likely killed Abu Laith al-Libi, a top al Qaeda commander based in North Waziristan.
Washington had accused Mr. Libi of masterminding a suicide-bombing attack last year on Vice President Dick Cheney during a February visit to Afghanistan's Bagram Air Base that killed 23 people.
The U.S. placed a $200,000 bounty on Mr. Libi, whom American intelligence officials believe had played a central role in coordinating attacks staged by al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mr. Libi, a Libyan national, is said to have headed an al Qaeda-linked organization in north Africa called the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group.
"It's likely that he was killed," said a Western official based in Washington who called it "a serious setback for al Qaeda." The official characterized Mr. Libi as among "the top half-dozen al Qaeda figures" globally, adding that "al Qaeda has lost their senior battlefield commander" in the region.
Islamic Web sites tied to al Qaeda announced Mr. Libi's death yesterday, heralding him as a "martyr."
The strike came in the town of Mir Ali, where at least 12 other people, mostly Arabs and Central Asians, were reported killed, according to press reports from Pakistan.
Monday's strike came weeks after Washington's top two intelligence officials, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell and CIA Director Gen. Michael Hayden, made a secret trip to Islamabad to meet with Pakistan's president, Pervez Musharraf. The two officials, according to American and Pakistan officials, asked for increased intelligence sharing, as well as greater freedom for the CIA to use drones and covert paramilitary personnel in the South Asian country. Mr. Musharraf strongly rejected the possibility of U.S. personnel being inserted into the tribal regions, these officials said, but didn't rule out stepped-up intelligence and Predator activity.
