US: Al-Libi's death 'major blow' to al Qaeda

White House says has confirmation of death of terror group's deputy leader in Pakistan drone attack, adding 'there is no clear successor'

News agencies|Published: 06.05.12 , 23:28

The White House on Tuesday described the death of al Qaeda deputy leader Abu Yahya al-Libi as a "major blow" to the terror group and said there was no clear successor to take over his role.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, citing US intelligence sources, said Libi was al Qaeda's "general manager" responsible for overseeing day-to-day operations in the tribal areas of Pakistan, and managing relations with affiliates.

"We have confirmation of his death," Carney told a news briefing, declining to say where or how the network's deputy leader died. "There is now no clear successor to take on the breadth of his responsibilities," he said.

Another US official called al-Libi's death significant."

News of the killing of Libi followed reports detailing the scope of the US campaign against global terrorism, including revelations that President Barack Obama personally presides over a "kill list" of top suspects.

Libi's death will also bolster Obama's credentials as a steely commander-in-chief as he seeks to repel claims of weakness abroad leveled by his Republican opponent in November's election Mitt Romney.

Left without a deputy. Al-Zawahiri (Photo: AP)

But it may once again worsen tenuous US ties with nominal anti-terror ally Pakistan, brought almost to the point of rupture by drone strikes, the US raid that killed bin Laden last year and the Pakistani refusal to reopen NATO supply lines into Afghanistan.

Libi was killed in a pre-dawn strike Monday in North Waziristan, a Taliban and al Qaeda stronghold along the Afghan border. He was a Libyan citizen with a $1 million price on his head.

A trusted lieutenant of bin Laden, Libi appeared in countless al Qaeda videos and was considered the chief architect of its global propaganda machine.

The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, told AFP that al-Libi had served as the group's "general manager" and had overseen day-to-day operations in Pakistani tribal areas.

The official described the killing of Libi as a "major blow" to al Qaeda's core which would further pressure the group's leader Ayman al-Zawahiri

Pakistani officials had originally said it was unclear whether Libi had been present at a compound in the village of Hesokhel, east of Miranshah, the capital of North Waziristan.

Libi had evaded US clutches before: he escaped from a high security US prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in 2005.

There had also been unconfirmed reports that Libi was wounded in a US drone strike that killed nine terrorists on May 28. A report that he was killed in a December 2009 drone strike in South Waziristan also proved false.

Libi's death followed the US claim that Atiyah abd al-Rahman, then described in Washington as al Qaeda's number two, was killed in a US missile strike in North Waziristan on August 22 last year.

Ben Venzke, an analyst at the US-based IntelCenter, said that the "loss of Abu Yahya al-Libi would be felt throughout the jihadi community as he has been one of the most visible jihadi figures from any of the groups around the world, with prolific video releases and writings."

Documents seized from bin Laden's compound and released by the United States last month suggest Libi was one of the late terror mastermind's most trusted lieutenants.

He signed a letter dated December 3, 2010 and sent to the Pakistani Taliban leader Hakimullah Mehsud reprimanding him for making "legal and religious mistakes" including the mass killing of Muslim civilians in suicide attacks.

Obama has presided over a relentless attempt to crush al Qaeda, including in Pakistan and Yemen since taking office in 2009.

Last month, during a visit to Afghanistan, he said his goal of defeating the group behind the September 11 attacks in 2001 was "now within our reach."