Senior Al Qaeda commander Abu Laith al-Libi was killed this week along with other militant fighters in a United States missile strike in Pakistan, a website linked to radical Islamic groups has reported.
Reports have suggested that Libi was among seven Arabs and five Central Asians who were killed in a missile strike on a house at Khushali Torikhel village in Pakistan's troubled North Waziristan tribal area early on Tuesday morning. Local residents claimed an unmanned spy plane operating from Afghanistan fired the missile.
Militants retrieved and buried the bodies on Wednesday and did not let local residents approach the house. The Pakistan Army has said it has no information on who was killed in the attack.
Caretaker interior minister Hamid Nawaz Khan on Friday said there had been an explosion in a home where Taliban fighters were staying but their bodies were buried before they could be examined. Therefore, it could not be said with certainty that Libi was among the dead, he said.
But the Al-Fajr Information Centre, a website linked to Al Qaeda, reported Libi's death on Thursday. The website said, 'Sheikh Abu Laith al-Qassimi al-Libi was martyred with a group of his brothers on the soil of Muslim Pakistan'. Libi is believed to be the first major Al Qaeda leader to have been killed or captured in Pakistan in almost two years.
There have been reports of several strikes carried out in Pakistan by pilotless US drones armed with missiles and launched from Afghanistan. But such attacks have never been confirmed by the Pakistani military, which says foreign forces will not be allowed to operate within the country.
Libi, which means 'the Libyan' in Arabic, was seen as a key link between Al Qaeda and the Taliban. He had become an influential commander in recent years, overseeing operations against US-led forces in Afghanistan.
He was also linked to several brazen attacks, including a suicide bombing that killed 23 people outside Bagram airbase during a visit by US vice president Dick Cheney in February2007. The US had offered a reward of $200,000 for information leading to Libi's capture.
The statement issued by Al-Fajr Information Centre lauded Libi's skills as a battlefield commander and trainer of fighters. 'He was an artist in what he did,' the statement said.
Libi rose to prominence as a leader of the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group, an organisation formed to overthrow Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi. Libi and Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri recently announced a formal partnership with remnants of the Libyan group.
Many of the Libyan group's members had sought refuge in Pakistan and Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks in the US. In December 2005, senior Al Qaeda planner Abu Hamza Rabia was killed in an attack by a UAV in North Waziristan, not far from where Libi is believed to have died. Another senior Al Qaeda commander, Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, was captured in late 2006 in Turkey after leaving Pakistan for Iraq.