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Afghan-Pakistan Qaeda chief 'killed by US drone'
By S.H. Khan (AFP) 36 minutes ago
PESHAWAR, Pakistan Al-Qaeda's operational chief for Afghanistan and Pakistan has been killed in a US drone strike in Pakistan's lawless tribal border areas, Pakistani security officials said Tuesday.
A covert American drone campaign has recently ramped up attacks on Al-Qaeda and Taliban operatives in the region as part of efforts to bring an end to a nine-year war in Afghanistan so that US troops can return home.
Sheikh Fateh was reportedly given the job in May after Al-Qaeda's purported number three and Osama bin Laden's one-time treasurer Mustafa Abu al-Yazid was killed on May 21, in what officials said appeared to be a drone strike.
Fateh, whom the intelligence officials said was also killed in North Waziristan, is relatively unknown and his name does not feature on the US list of most-wanted terrorists.
Reports of high-profile killings by drone strikes -- which the US military as a rule does not confirm -- are generally based on intelligence intercepts, with much of the semi-autonomous region off limits on the ground.
Pakistani security officials said the Egyptian was killed on Saturday in a US drone strike on North Waziristan, a hub of Al-Qaeda and Taliban commanders where the covert American missile war has been concentrated.
"Yes, he has been killed," one Pakistani security official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
Suspected US aircraft have significantly stepped up attacks on Taliban and Al-Qaeda-linked operatives in the country's semi-autonomous border areas with Afghanistan this month, with at least 20 attacks reported in September.
Two other Pakistani intelligence officials confirmed Sheikh Fateh's death, also speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to release the information to the media.
"He was head of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and Pakistan," one official said. Locally, he was known as Abdul Razzaq, the official added.
"He was in a Datsun pick-up. He was accompanied by three local people. Two of them were identified as Haji Niaz and Naimatullah. They were killed in a drone attack on September 25," the official said.
Shortly after Saturday's attack, Pakistani officials reported four militants killed in a strike on a vehicle in Datta Khel village area near the town of Miranshah, but there had been no immediate word on their identities.
September has seen the highest number of suspected US drone attacks in a single month, surpassing the previous high of 12 in January, according to an AFP tally.
The Wall Street Journal reported that the CIA had stepped up the attacks to try to foil a suspected terror plot against European targets, which was believed to target multiple countries, including Britain, France and Germany.
Washington has branded Pakistan's northwestern Federally Administered Tribal Areas, which lies outside government control, a global headquarters of Al-Qaeda and the most dangerous place on Earth.
AFP: Afghan-Pakistan Qaeda chief 'killed by US drone'