when a predator drone fired four missiles late Friday night at a compound in Ghwakhwa area of the restive South Waziristan. Pakistani officials said it was a targeted attack. Confirming his death spokesperson Abu Hanzala of his outfit Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami said the outfit will take revenge on the US for this.
Ilayas Kasmiri was widely speculated to take over as al-Qaeda chief after the killing of bin Laden a month ago. His killing comes just days after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton handed over a list of five most wanted al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, including Kashmiri to Pakistan.
He was considered one of the most feared operational commanders of the network that Osama bin Laden founded and has been blamed for a string of high-profile attacks on western targets, as well as in India and Pakistan. He was a key suspect in the Mumbai attacks.
The United States had put out a 5 million dollar reward on his head, the maximum for any most-wanted target. Pakistani officials confirmed nine militants were killed in the US missile strike at a compound in the Ghwakhwa area of South Waziristan, a stronghold of al-Qaeda-allied Taliban. Reports say, all those killed were his fighters. His death, coming just a month after that of al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden, is a major psychological blow to al-Qaeda and the Taliban.
The others in the US hit list inlcude al-Qaeda No 2 Ayman Al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda operations chief Atiya Abdur Rahman, and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. US intelligence officials believe that they are hiding in Pakistan.