CNN and Reuters both confirming the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi.
http://www.cnn.com/...
Abu Yahya al-Libi, the No. 2 man in al Qaeda and a longtime public face of the terror network, has been killed by a U.S. drone strike in Pakistan, a U.S. official said Tuesday.
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.
Al-Libi was second-in-command behind al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri, who took the helm after bin Laden's death.
"There is no one who even comes close in terms of replacing the expertise (al Qaeda) has just lost," said the U.S. official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Previously, only Pakistani sources were saying he'd been killed. US sources would only confirming that he was 'targeted' in a drone strike early Monday morning in North Waziristan. There was a $1 Million Reward for his death or capture by the State Department.
Background: Abu Yahya al Libi was quite possibly the most dangerous remaining active operative within Al Qaeda's central Pakistani-based leadership.
A Libyan citizen and a trained Islamic scholar. Joined Al Qaeda in Afghanistan some time in the 90s. He was captured by NATO forces in 2002. Rather than bringing him to the United States for trial as a member of a designated terrorist organization, the Bush administration decided to keep him locked up at Bagram airbase along with many other high-ranking Al Qaeda operatives.
Its here that his story within Al Qaeda really begins. In mid-2005, he and three other prominent Al Qaeda operatives staged a successful prison break from Bagram. Rejoining Al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan, he instantly became a rockstar within jihadi circles for having 'escaped the belly of the infidel.' Videos of him leading from the front, training operatives, and giving sermons were amongst the most popular on jihadi web forums.
Unlike Zawahiri, he was widely viewed as charismatic and in touch with younger Muslim extremists. Unlike Bin Laden, he had credibility as a fighter of Americans. After Zawahiri, he put out more propaganda tapes than any other figure within Al Qaeda.
After the death of Osama Bin Laden, he was widely looked at as a potential replacement for the Big Chief. And it appears that after Zawahiri's ascendancy to the top spot, and the death of Abu Attiyah in a previous drone strike, that Al-Libi had secured the job as the day-to-day leader and and manager of the terrorist organization.
A really devastating blow to Al Qaeda's organization and their 'brand' around the world.
2:15 PM PT: Somebody below asked how many '#2s' we've killed since 9/11. Saying it seemed like one was falling every other week. But most of those headlines you see actually pertain to Al Qaeda's affiliates (one recent story was about killing the #2 Al Qaeda operative IN AFGHANISTAN.)
Al-Libi was purportedly the day-to-day manager for Al Qaeda operations WORLDWIDE. Of leaders this high up or higher in the Al Qaeda Central chain of command, you can actually count our successes on one hand.
Mohammed Atef - November 2001
Abu Mustafa al Yazid - May 2010
Osama Bin Laden - May 2011
Attiyah Abd al Rahman - August 2011
Abu Yahya al-Libi - June 2012
Notice anything about those dates?
After Tora Bora, Al Qaeda's senior leadership basically got away scott free to rebuild in Pakistan. We spent 7 years swatting at the underlings they sent around the globe to wreak havoc. Even KSM was little more than Al Qaeda's "External Operations" Chief and not a true senior leader (we've killed or captured as many as ten of his replacements since.)
The drone campaign (helped, I suspect, by the intel trove from the Bin Laden raid) has changed all that. Their senior leadership is dropping like flies now.