Abdullah Said al-Libi | |
|---|---|
| Died | (2009-12-17)December 17, 2009 |
| Other names | Abdallah Sa'id |
Abdullah Said al-Libi (died 17 December 2009) was described as being anal Qaeda operational leader inPakistan.[1][2] He is reported to have previously served in the Libyan military.[3] He led an al-Qaeda paramilitary force.[4] Said al-Libi was killed in adrone strike on 17 December 2009 in North Waziristan.[5][6] In April 2009 he had released a statement where he identified himself as the leader of al Qaeda's efforts to take control ofKhorasan - an ancient Islamic province that included Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some neighboring areas.
According toJoby Warrick, the author ofThe Triple Agent, al Libi had lived withHumam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who would later convinceCentral Intelligence Agency officers that he was their double agent within al Qaeda, only to detonate a suicide bomb, killing several of them.[4] His suicide bombing is said to have been in retaliation for the killing of al Libi,Abu Saleh al Somali andBaitullah Mehsud.[3]
Senior al-Qaida operatives Saleh al-Somali and Abdallah Sa'id were killed in airstrikes in December.
These raids have ravaged the top tier of al-Qaeda's lieutenants. The victims includeSaleh al-Somali, the chief of external operations, who was killed Dec. 8; Abdullah Said al-Libi, the chief of operations in Pakistan, who was killed Dec. 17; andTahir Yuldashev, the leader of theIslamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who was killed in August.
The suicide attack, which killed seven CIA operatives and a Jordanian intelligence official, was designed to "avenge" the death of al Libi, Somali, and former Pakistani Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud, Yazid said, according to a translation of his statement received by The Long War Journal.
Abdullah Said al Libi, the leader of the Lashkar al Zil or Shadow Army, is believed to have been killed in the Dec. 17, 2009, swarm attack in the Datta Khel region in North Waziristan.
December 2009: Abdullah Said al Libi, top commander of the Lashkar al Zil, al-Qaeda's shadow army. Killed in Pakistan.
