Number two of al Qaeda killed by US

Anil Narendra

US have an important achievement on the fight against terror front. US have claimed to kill 15 terrorists in a drone attack on Monday in the North Waziristan area of Pakistan. This is being considered the most important achievement of the US after the killing of Osama bin Laden. It has also been reported that Abu Yahya al-Libi has been killed in this raid. The Libyan national, Libi was born in 1963 in Libya. He came to Afghanistan around 1990. He was also considered as an Islamic and Libyan thinker. In a dramatic turn, Libi escaped from the Jail at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in 2005. He was arrested in 2002 after the Taliban rule was ended by NATO forces. He became deputy leader of the international terrorist network, al-Qaeda after the death of another Libyan national, Atiyah Abdul Rehman in a US missile attack in North Waziristan last year. He came into prominence in 2007 after he had prepared a complete series of al Qaeda publicity CDs. Abu Yahya al-Libi was considered as a top strategist of al-Qaeda and number two leader after Ayman al-Zawahiri in al-Queda hierarchy. The US had declared $ one billion award on his head. Earlier, in 2009 rumours of his death were proved wrong, as this time also some people are skeptic about the news of his death. Quoting US officials, the New York Times has said that people want to know if he is still alive? The newspaper has reported that according to the tribal sources in Mir Ali area, which was targeted in Monday's drone attack, say that either Libi is dead or he has been wounded seriously. This was the third recent drone attack and was most fierce attack of the year. If the news of Libi's death comes true, then it would be the biggest jolt for the al-Qaeda after the killing of Osama bin Laden. Libi was not only a terrorist, but was also the think tank of al-Qaeda. He was considered to be the mastermind of suicide attacks. Having fluency in Urdu-Arabic and Pashto languages, he had profound knowledge about Islam also. Libi was overseeing terrorist operations in tribal areas and was acting as conduit to the regional terrorist factions. US officials are of the view that at present, there is no body in al-Qaeda who could fill the vacuum created by his death. This is a commendable achievement for US in its 'War on Terror'. The al-Qaeda network is gradually moving towards its end. The terror attributed to it has also come down recently. If al-Qaeda is weakened, it would be easier for the US to meet the dead line of withdrawal of US forces from Afghanistan by 2014. The confirmation of al-Libi's death would also help President Barak Obama to win the US Presidential elections again. Then, he can claim that during his tenure, first it was Laden and then it was Libi who were eliminated.