FYI
BBC News Asia
5 June 2012 Last updated at 18:02 GMT
Al-Qaeda commander Abu Yahya al-Libi killed - US officials
Senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike in
Pakistan on Monday, a US official has told the BBC.
US officials said Libi was the target of a drone strike which hit a volatile
tribal area of Pakistan's north-west, killing 15 suspected militants.
There has been no confirmation of his death from sources in Pakistan.
According to officials, he played a critical role in the group's planning
against the West.
"There is no-one who even comes close in terms of replacing the expertise
al-Qaeda has just lost," the US official told the BBC.
The source added that al-Qaeda's leadership "will be hard-pressed to find any
one person who can readily step into [Libi's] shoes".
Washington believes that following Osama Bin Laden's death last year, Libi, an
Islamic scholar from Libya, became al-Qaeda's second-in-command after
Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Libi had gravitas as a longstanding member of al-Qaeda's leadership, the
official told the BBC, and his religious credentials meant he had the authority
to issue fatwas and provide guidance to the Pakistan-based operation.
But Monday's drone strike sparked anger in Pakistan and the foreign ministry
lodged a formal protest with a US diplomat in Islamabad.
It came after a recent surge in such attacks in Pakistan - there have been
eight drone strikes in over the past two weeks.
Drone strikes have increased in frequency since President Barack Obama took
office in 2008 and hundreds of people have been killed.
The dead include senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, as well as an unknown
number of other militants and civilians.
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