Top al-Qaida commander killed in US drone strike in Pakistan, official and milit

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Top al-Qaida commander killed in US drone strike in Pakistan, official and

militant group say

By Ishtiaq Mehsud, The Associated Press | The Canadian Press – 1 hour 5 minutes

ago

DERA ISMAIL KHAN, Pakistan - A top al-Qaida commander and possible replacement

for Osama bin Laden was killed in an American drone-fired missile strike close

to the Afghan border, a fax from the militant group he heads and a Pakistani

intelligence official said Saturday.

Ilyas Kashmiri's apparent death is another blow to al-Qaida just over a month

after bin Laden was killed by American commandos in a northwest Pakistani army

town. Described by U.S. officials as al-Qaida's military operations chief in

Pakistan, the 47-year-old Pakistani was one of five most-wanted militant leaders

in the country, accused of a string of bloody attacks in South Asia, including

the 2008 Mumbai massacre, as well as aiding plots in the West. Washington had

offered a $5 million bounty for information leading to his location.

His death was not confirmed publicly by the United States or Pakistani

officials. Verifying who has been killed in the drone strikes is difficult.

Initial reports have turned out to be wrong in the past, including one in

September 2009 that said Kashmiri had been killed. Sometimes they are never

formally denied or confirmed by authorities here or in the United States.

But a fax from the militant group he was heading — Harakat-ul-Jihad al-Islami's

feared " 313 Brigade " — confirmed Kashmiri was " martyred " in the strike at 11:15

p.m. Friday in South Waziristan tribal region. It was sent to journalists in

Peshawar.

" God willing, America, which is the 'pharaoh' of this, will soon see a revenge

attack, and our real target is America, " it said. The statement was handwritten

written on a white page bearing name of the group, which has not previously

communicated with the media.

The Pakistani official also said Kashmiri was among nine militants killed in the

strike. He spoke on condition of anonymity in line with his agency's policy. On

Friday night, officials said several missiles hit a compound. The official

Saturday said the men were meeting in an apple orchard near the house when the

missiles hit.

Kashmiri's name was on a list of militants that the United States and Pakistan

recently agreed to jointly target, officials have said. The successful strike

could help repair ties between the two countries that were badly damaged by the

unilateral American raid, especially if Islamabad helped provide intelligence

leading up to the attack.

Said to be blind in one eye and missing a finger, Kashmiri was one of the

country's most accomplished — and vicious — militants. He fought with jihadi

fighters in Afghanistan and in Indian-held Kashmir in the 1990s and was so close

to al-Qaida's central command that he had been mentioned as a contender for

replacing bin Laden, though many analysts thought the fact that he was not an

Arab meant he was unlikely to get the post.

Indian officials have alleged he was involved in the 2008 Mumbai siege that

killed more than 160 people. He has also been named a defendant in an American

court over a planned attack on a Danish newspaper that published cartoons

depicting the Prophet Muhammad in 2005.

In an ongoing terror trial in Chicago, testimony from an American-Pakistani

militant has alleged that Kashmiri helped plan the Mumbai siege and wanted to

attack U.S. defence contractor Lockheed . Kashmiri had been angry over

U.S. drone attacks inside Pakistan and wanted to target the company,

Headley testified.

Kashmiri has most recently been linked to last month's 18-hour assault on a

naval base in Karachi. He is also accused of masterminding several bloody raids

on Pakistan police and intelligence buildings in 2009 and 2010, as well as a

failed assassination attempt against then-President Pervez Musharraf in 2003.

The U.S Department of State says he organized a 2006 suicide bombing against the

U.S. consulate in Karachi that killed four people, including an American

diplomat.

American drones began firing missiles at al-Qaida and Taliban targets along the

border in 2005, but the attacks picked up pace in 2008 and have risen in

frequency ever since. Pakistani army officers and politicians publicly protest

them, too weak to admit to working with the ever unpopular America in targeting

fellow Pakistanis, but the country's intelligence agencies have been known to

occasionally provide targeting information.

Opposition to the strikes grew this year after a CIA contractor shot and killed

two Pakistanis in the street, triggering ever more intense anti-American anger.

After the bin Laden raid, which was seen by many here as an outrageous violation

of the country's sovereignty, the parliament issued a declaration calling for

the attacks to end.

Pakistani leaders were not immediately available for comment on Friday's attack.

Kashmiri was accused of killing many Pakistanis, including police and army

officers, so their public reaction may be muted.

The United States does not acknowledge the CIA-run program, though its officials

have confirmed the death of high-value targets before, including the head of the

Pakistani Taliban, Baitullah Mehsud, in 2009 — a strike welcomed by many

Pakistan officials because he too was a sworn enemy of the country.

Washington says the strikes are accurately killing militants and are disrupting

plots against the West as well as planned attacks on U.S. troops in Afghanistan.