ISLAMABAD, 2 February 2008 — Top Al-Qaeda operative Abu Laith Al-Libi was killed in Monday’s missile attack on a house in Pakistan’s northwest, websites used by extremists and the United States announced. But the Pakistani government denied knowledge of the militant’s death.
The death of Al-Libi was reported Thursday on extremist websites and confirmed by an American official, who said the veteran Al-Qaeda leader died when a missile from a US Predator drone struck a compound near Mir Ali late Monday.
A Pakistan government spokesman in Islamabad said he had no information to prove Al-Libi was killed in the strike, but Pakistani intelligence officials in Miran Shah, the main town in North Waziristan, said there were strong indications he died. “Our sources among militants... are telling us that Al-Libi died in the US missile attack” along with about a dozen others, said a security official who requested anonymity. A second intelligence official confirmed that account.
Separately, two Pakistani intelligence officials said the missile was fired while Al-Libi or some of his associates were using satellite phones and a computer at the house of Abdul Sattar, a local tribal leader known for his links to extremists.
Another official said in Islamabad that Sattar’s home was only two kilometers from a base used by Pakistani security forces. Al-Libi was No. 5 on a classified US Central Intelligence Agency wanted list with a $ 5 million bounty on his head. He had appeared in several Al-Qaeda propaganda videos, but security officials and militant sources said he was also a key field commander who linked up with Afghanistan’s Taleban movement.
Islamist websites first announced the death of Al-Libi, who is said to be in his 40s. “We announce the good news to the Islamic world: Sheikh Abu Laith Al-Qassimi Al-Libi has fallen a martyr on the soil of Muslim Pakistan,” said an announcement on the Al-Fajr Information Center site. “The sheikh’s martyrdom will only strengthen our fire and burn the enemies of our people,” it said.
The US military chief hailed “the elimination” of Al-Libi. “I think the strike was a very important one, a very lethal one,” said Adm. Michael Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Mullen, who said he will travel soon to Islamabad to meet with Pakistani leaders, would not comment on the specifics of the operation.
In apparent retaliation, a suicide car bomber yesterday killed five government soldiers and wounded eight. The attacker rammed his explosives-laden vehicle into a security check post at Khajori, near Mir Ali, chief military spokesman Maj. Gen. Athar Abbas said. “Three security personnel embraced martyrdom and five were injured in the vehicle-bound suicide attack today,” Abbas said.
Separately yesterday two soldiers suffered minor injuries in a roadside bomb blast just outside Wana, the main town in the neighboring tribal region of South Waziristan, Abbas said. South Waziristan is the stronghold of another wanted extremist, Baitullah Mehsud, who has been accused by Pakistani and US officials of masterminding the assassination of opposition leader Benazir Bhutto.
— Additional input from agencies
