Al-Qaeda chief Adnan el Shukrijuma 'killed in Pakistan'
The FBI called Shukrijumah a 'most-wanted' terrorist
A senior al-Qaeda militant, accused of planning to bomb trains in New York and London, has been killed in Pakistan, the country's military says.
Adnan el Shukrijumah was killed in a raid in north-western Pakistan, near the Afghan border, the military said.
The FBI describes him as al-Qaeda's global operations chief, a post once held by the alleged mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed.
Shukrijumah was born in Saudi Arabia and lived for several years in the US.
He was named in a US federal indictment as a conspirator in the case against three men accused of plotting suicide bomb attacks on New York's subway system in 2009.
He is also suspected of having played a role in plotting al-Qaeda attacks in Panama, Norway and the UK.
Analysis: M Ilyas Khan, BBC News, Islamabad
The killing of Adnan el Shukrijuma is the first major militant casualty since June when the Pakistani military launched a major operation to clean up the largest militant sanctuary on the country's soil.
It comes days after Pakistani army Chief Gen Raheel Sharif returned from a week-long visit of the US, the first by an army chief in four years. On Thursday, the US Congress extended a $1b operational support to Pakistani army despite recent tensions and mistrust.
The killing also puts the spotlight back on the Western half of South Waziristan, the first militant sanctuary in Pakistan where al-Qaeda and Taliban groups fleeing American bombing in October 2001 took shelter. Shukrijuma's killing in an army raid in this region shows that it is now being used as a hideout by militants fleeing the military offensive in North Waziristan.
Local militant groups still control territory here, and are still considered largely friendly to the army, but now there may be more persistent questions over this relationship.
Pakistan's military said two other militants were killed in the raid on Saturday. One soldier was also reportedly killed, and another was hurt.
A military statement said the "intelligence-borne operation" took place in the Shinwarsak region of South Waziristan, which borders Afghanistan.
The region is a base for the Pakistani Taliban and its allies.
Pakistan's military launched an offensive in June against militants in neighbouring North Waziristan.
Shukrijumah is alleged to have been in charge of planning al-Qaeda attacks outside Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A Saudi national, he spent more than 15 years in the US, moving there when his father took up a post at a Brooklyn mosque. The family later moved to Florida.
In the late 1990s, he is thought to have left for militant training camps in Afghanistan.
Pakistan's army kills al Qaeda commander who grew up in U.S.
By
Sophia Saifi, Ben Brumfield and
Susan Candiotti, CNN
December 6, 2014 -- Updated 1007 GMT (1807 HKT)
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Pakistan's army said it killed an al Qaeda operative,
who grew up in the United States and was on the FBI's list of most wanted terrorists.
Adnan G. El Shukrijumah, 39, was once indicted for his alleged role in a terror plot to attack targets there and in the UK.
He was killed in a raid in South Waziristan on Saturday, Pakistani army spokesman Asim Bajwal said on Twitter.
Shukrijumah, a senior commander, is thought to have served as one of the leaders of al Qaeda's external operations program,
according to the FBI, hatching plots to attack the West.
He was indicted by New York authorities in 2010 over an alleged plot to have two men blow themselves up in the city's subway system.
The FBI had placed a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
Lived in NYC, Florida
Shukrijumah was born in Saudi Arabia, the eldest son of a Saudi Imam, and came to America as a young child.
His family settled in Brooklyn, New York, where his father preached at a mosque. They lived at a nearby house before moving to Florida in the mid-'90s.
His father, who is now dead, opened a small mosque near Fort Lauderdale.
Shukrijumah worked at odd jobs, including selling used cars and took classes information technology and chemistry, at a small college in South Florida. He also took classes to improve his English.
Then he disappeared.
The FBI says that after he left America, Shukrijumah started off as an al Qaeda dishwasher, doing menial tasks at training camps. But he rose in the ranks to a key leadership position.
An FBI counter-terrorism agent linked Shukrijumah to the thwarted New York subway suicide mission in fall of 2009 in the biggest post-9/11 terror investigation.
Two men admitted they planned to blow themselves up using homemade bombs.
Prosecutors say it was Shukrijumah who called the shots at the time -- probably from somewhere along the Afghan-Pakistan border.
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