Al Qaeda number two killed in drone strike
Atiyah abd al-Rahman, described as al Qaeda’s second-in-command, has reportedly been killed by a CIA drone strike in Pakistan.
According to most reports, al-Rahman had been second only to Ayman al-Zawahiri, al Qaeda’s leader. The Libyan had long been sought by the CIA, which had uncovered evidence of his links to the terrorist network in Iraq in 2006, and to a deadly suicide mission against a US base in Afghanistan which claimed the lives of seven CIA agents in 2009.
News emerged of al-Rahman’s death at the weekend.
According to US officials quoted reported in the media, he was killed in a drone strike on August 22. A strike on a house and car near Mir Ali, North Waziristan that day killed between four and seven people. At the time there were no reports of ‘foreigners’ being caught up in the attack – usually a code for non-Pakistani militants.
However, the News has identified a possible second strike that day in Khaisoori, which reportedly killed an Arab family – ‘three men, two children and a lady’ – leading to speculation that al-Rahman instead died in this attack.
Al-Rahman had only held the number two spot since the slaying of Osama bin Laden in Abbotobad by US Special Forces on May 1.
Another potential candidate for al Qaeda’s leadership, Ilyas Kashmiri, was also killed in a drone strike on June 3. Speculation by some that he might still be alive appeared to be quashed when it was reported earlier today that Kashmiri’s al Qaeda-affiliated 313 Brigade had appointed a new commander.
