Drone Strike Kills Al Qaeda’s Number 2

Abu Yahya al-Libi, the number two al Qaeda operative, was killed in a Pakistan drone strike.

Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command has been killed in Pakistan.

His death marks one of the most significant blows to al Qaeda since the U.S. military killed Osama bin Laden in a daring nighttime raid in Pakistan a year ago.

Who is he?

Libi, whose real name is Mohamed Hassan Qaid, reportedly born in 1963, made numerous appearances in al-Qaeda propaganda videos and became a key target for western intelligence services after the death of Osama Bin Laden a year ago.

He is described by U.S. officials as number two to Ayman al-Zawahiri, the former Egyptian doctor who took over al-Qaeda after Bin Laden’s death. But while a “fog of covert war” has surrounded Libi, as described by the Guardian’s Jason Burke, he went relatively unnoticed by the media in recent years.

Perhaps his most famous stint was back in 2005, when he escaped from Bagram Air Force Base in Afghanistan after three years of imprisonment, making him more prominent within al-Qaeda circles.

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.