Pakistan can't confirm al-Qaida fatality
Source: Agencies |
August 30, 2011, Tuesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
PAKISTAN still had no confirmation yesterday that al-Qaida's deputy chief had been killed in a recent United States drone strike near the Afghan border, two days after American officials said his death was a major victory in the war against the group.
Atiyah abd al-Rahman, a Libyan, rose to the No. 1 spot when Ayman al-Zawahri took the reins of al-Qaida after Osama bin Laden was killed in May in a US raid in Pakistan.
US officials said he was killed on August 22 in North Waziristan, a global hub for some of the world's most dangerous militants, from al-Qaida figures to the Pakistani Taliban to veteran foreign fighters from the Arab world.
Eliminating al-Qaida leaders operating along Pakistan's unruly frontier with Afghanistan is a security priority for the US, which has stepped up its drone attacks there under the Obama administration to achieve its goal.
Pakistani officials said they had no information that indicated that Rahman was killed in a drone strike three weeks before the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US. "We made checks but we have no confirmation from any source as yet about this death," a senior military official said.
His comments highlighted the deep intelligence deficit Pakistani officials often face in North Waziristan and other parts of the northwest, where rugged mountain terrain and ties between a murky militant network and powerful tribal hosts make the area difficult to penetrate.
What intelligence officials can confirm is that a missile fired by a remotely piloted US drone struck a car near the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali on August 22, killing four.
Atiyah abd al-Rahman, a Libyan, rose to the No. 1 spot when Ayman al-Zawahri took the reins of al-Qaida after Osama bin Laden was killed in May in a US raid in Pakistan.
US officials said he was killed on August 22 in North Waziristan, a global hub for some of the world's most dangerous militants, from al-Qaida figures to the Pakistani Taliban to veteran foreign fighters from the Arab world.
Eliminating al-Qaida leaders operating along Pakistan's unruly frontier with Afghanistan is a security priority for the US, which has stepped up its drone attacks there under the Obama administration to achieve its goal.
Pakistani officials said they had no information that indicated that Rahman was killed in a drone strike three weeks before the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks on the US. "We made checks but we have no confirmation from any source as yet about this death," a senior military official said.
His comments highlighted the deep intelligence deficit Pakistani officials often face in North Waziristan and other parts of the northwest, where rugged mountain terrain and ties between a murky militant network and powerful tribal hosts make the area difficult to penetrate.
What intelligence officials can confirm is that a missile fired by a remotely piloted US drone struck a car near the North Waziristan town of Mir Ali on August 22, killing four.
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