The 47-year-old is one of the most feared operational commanders of the network that Osama founded and has been blamed for a string of high-profile attacks on Western targets, as well as in India and Pakistan. -- PHOTO: AFP
MALAYSIAN BLOGGERS : ISLAMABAD - A US drone strike likely killed Pakistan's Al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri, in what would deal a major blow to the terror network a month after Osama bin Laden's death, officials said on Saturday.
The 47-year-old is one of the most feared operational commanders of the network that Osama founded and has been blamed for a string of high-profile attacks on Western targets, as well as in India and Pakistan.
He has a maximum US bounty of US$5 million (S$6.1 million) on his head and Pakistani officials said he was the target of a US drone strike in South Waziristan on the Afghan border on Friday, in which nine members of his banned group died.
His killing will likely be seen as a huge achievement in the United States after Navy Seals killed bin Laden in Pakistan, itself feted as the greatest psychological victory over Al-Qaeda since the September 11, 2001 attacks.
A senior Pakistani security official said there were 'strong indications' that Kashmiri had been killed, but that it was impossible to provide 100 per cent confirmation so soon after the attack without access to the bodies.
The corpses were burnt beyond recognition and swiftly buried. Militants barred access to the site of the attack in Ghwakhwa in South Waziristan, a militant stronghold despite a sweeping Pakistani offensive in 2009. 'There are strong indications that he has been killed in the strike, but we cannot confirm it and we are still trying to confirm it,' the senior Pakistani official told AFP on condition of anonymity. -- AFP
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