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'Al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan Abu Hafs al-Shahri killed' | |
(40 minutes later) | |
A senior al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan, Abu Hafs al-Shahri, has been killed, say senior US officials. | |
There has been no independent confirmation of the death, which officials said happened in the Waziristan tribal region. | |
The US frequently carries out drone air strikes against suspected militants hiding out in the volatile area. | The US frequently carries out drone air strikes against suspected militants hiding out in the volatile area. |
Three weeks ago the US said it had killed al-Qaeda's suspected chief of operations, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman. | Three weeks ago the US said it had killed al-Qaeda's suspected chief of operations, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman. |
The media are denied access to the area, making it difficult to confirm such claims. | The media are denied access to the area, making it difficult to confirm such claims. |
The US said Mr Shahri has been killed earlier this week and that his death "removes a key threat inside Pakistan". | |
He had played a "key operational and administrative role" in al-Qaeda and had worked closely with the Taliban to carry out attacks in Pakistan, said officials. | |
The death would "further degrade al-Qaeda's ability to recover" from the death of Abd al-Rahman, they said, as Mr Shahri had been considered a contender to take on some of the dead leader's duties. | |
The US does not routinely confirm drone operations and there has been no comment as yet from Pakistani officials. | |
Kabul gunfight | |
The BBC's Ilyas Khan in Islamabad says a drone strike near Mir Ali in Waziristan last Sunday is known to have killed a key leader of the Haqqani network. | |
Reports since have suggested that an Arab man whose identify was not clear was also killed, says our correspondent. | |
The Haqqani network has been blamed for several large attacks in Afghanistan, including a 20-hour gunfight in central Kabul earlier this week. | |
Abd al-Rahman had reportedly been number two on a list of the five top militants in Afghanistan and Pakistan whom Washington and Islamabad most wanted to capture or kill. | |
He was considered a close confidant of Osama Bin Laden, who was killed by US special forces in a raid in northern Pakistan in May, and was heavily relied on by the group's new leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. |