Al Qaeda number two killed in Pakistan this week

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http://ca.news.yahoo.com/al-qaeda-number-two-killed-pakistan-week-182102675.html

Al Qaeda number two killed in Pakistan this week

By Caren Bohan and Tabassum Zakaria | Reuters – 5 hours ago.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's new second-in-command was killed earlier this

week in Pakistan, U.S. officials said Saturday, in a major blow to the group

still reeling from the death of Osama bin Laden.

Atiyah abd al-Rahman, a Libyan national, rose to the number two spot when Ayman

al-Zawahri took the reins of al Qaeda after bin Laden was killed in May in a

U.S. raid in Pakistan.

One U.S. official said Rahman was killed in a strike by an unmanned drone on

August 22. He was killed in Waziristan in northwest Pakistan where intelligence

officials believe members of al Qaeda are hiding, other U.S. officials said.

" Atiyah's death is a tremendous loss for al Qaeda, because (Zawahri) was relying

heavily on him to help guide and run the organisation, especially since bin

Laden's death, " one U.S. official said.

" The trove of materials from bin Laden's compound showed clearly that Atiyah was

deeply involved in directing al Qaeda's operations even before the (May) raid.

He had multiple responsibilities in the organisation and will be very difficult

to replace, " the official said.

U.S. and Pakistani intelligence ties have been strained since the unilateral

American strike against bin Laden, and Pakistani intelligence did not confirm

Rahman's death. Sources in Pakistan said four people known to have been killed

in a U.S. drone strike on August 22 were local militants and not al Qaeda.

Although most U.S. officials described Rahman as al Qaeda's No. 2, one said his

rank wasn't as clear, saying he could be considered one of the top three leaders

of the organisation.

Regardless, Rahman's death, if confirmed, would signal another significant

setback for al Qaeda's core group just days before the tenth anniversary of the

September 11, 2001 attacks.

In the past decade, al Qaeda's affiliates have become a greater concern, with

its Yemen-based off-shoot now seen in Washington as the bigger threat to the

United States.

HARDER FOR ZAWAHRI?

Noman Benotman, a former Libyan Islamist and now an analyst with Britain's

Quilliam think tank, described Rahman as al Qaeda's " CEO, " or chief executive

officer.

" This was the one man al Qaeda could not afford to lose, " Benotman said.

" In the last two years he successfully, and I think more or less

single-handedly, created the dynamics that kept al Qaeda together. "

Rahman was originally from the Libya, and his real name was Jamal Ibrahim

Ishtawi, Benotman said. A graduate of the engineering department of Misrata

University, he left Libya to go to Afghanistan in 1988 and join the Islamist

groups then fighting Soviet occupation, he added.

A U.S. official said Rahman ran daily operations for the group, spoke on behalf

of bin Laden and Zawahri and was the one that " affiliates knew and trusted. "

" Zawahri needed Atiyah's experience and connections to help manage al Qaeda. Now

it will be even harder for him to consolidate control, " the U.S. official said.

Zawahri is believed to lack bin Laden's presence or his ability to unite

different Arab factions within the group, analysts say.

U.S. Defence Secretary Leon Panetta said last month on a visit to Afghanistan

that he believed the strategic defeat of al Qaeda was within reach if the United

States could kill or capture up to 20 remaining leaders of the core group and

its affiliates.

" News of his demise underscores what Leon Panetta has been saying for some time

about al Qaeda: it's important to sustain intense pressure on this group of

terrorists and thugs, " a third senior U.S. official said.

" Dialling back on al Qaeda leadership in Pakistan, especially while they try to

regroup after bin Laden's death, isn't the way to go. For the sake of our

national security, they need to be knocked out for good. "

(Additional reporting by Mark Hosenball, Cornwell and Phil in

Washington, Maclean in London and Allbritton in Islamabad; Editing

by Philip Barbara and Jackie )