US drone attack in Pakistan’s North Wazirstan tribal area has killed a top Al Qaeda commander

Islamabad, Dec 8/Nationalturk- A top Al-Qaeda commander was reportedly killed in a US drone attack in Pakistan’s North Wazirstan tribal area.

Media reports said that Al Qaeda leader Abu Zaid was among 11 persons killed in US drone strike on a militant hideout in North Waziristan on Thursday.

According to NBC News, Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdul Rehman Al-Hussainan alias Abu-Zaid al Kuwaiti was killed in Pakistan while eating breakfast.  “The 46-year-old cleric was seen as part of the ‘very top tier’ of Al Qaida’s remaining leaders in the wake of the death of Osama bin Laden”.

It said the news was announced on an Al Qaida web forum on Friday. “We celebrate to you the news of the martyrdom of the working scholar Shaykh Khalid al-Hussainan (Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti) while eating his Suhoor (dawn time) meal, and we urge Allah to accept him in paradise,” a post had said.

He was at forefront of new Al Qaeda leadership

According to NBC News counterterrorism analyst al-Hussainan was at the forefront of a new wave of al-Qaida leadership.

“He was the last senior Al-Qaida leader in the Afghanistan-Pakistan area who was, one, from the Arabian Peninsula and, two, who had serious clerical credentials.  Now there is no obvious publicly recognizable candidate left to succeed Zawahiri,” he said.

Al-Hussainan was seen in numerous Al Qaida videos in recent years offering religious training to the group’s operatives. The videos were widely circulated by al-Shabab, al-Qaida’s media wing. He also authored several books of religious thoughts.

Meanwhile, Pakistan security officials based in North Waziristan said they were aware of the death of a senior al Qaeda commander but could not confirm his identity or rank.

“Sheikh Khalid Bin Abdul Rehman Al-Hussainan had replaced Abu Yahya al-Libi as one of al Qaeda’s most powerful figures in June after Libi was killed by a US drone strike,” they said.

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Faiz Ahmad / NationalTurk Pakistan News