Devil Soul
ELITE MEMBER
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Osama bin Laden's 'ambassador to Italy' killed by drone
A terrorist convicted for his role in the 1997 Luxor massacre and close confidante of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader, has been killed by a drone strike in Pakistan, according to intelligence analysts.
Abd el Kader Mahmoud Mohamed el Sayed was once described as Osama bin Laden’s ambassador to Italy and his death is the latest blow to the group’s core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He is believed to have been killed in May or June last year but details of his death were only recently posted online by the movement’s propaganda unit, leading analysts to conclude that al-Qaeda’s remnants are struggling to keep track of who is alive and who is dead.
Rahimullah Yusufzai, one of Pakistan’s leading experts on al-Qaeda, said: “This shows they have a real difficulty co-ordinating. They have scattered, gone underground and don’t seem to be able to maintain contact.”
The CIA’s covert drone programme is under intense scrutiny. On Thursday, John Brennan, Barack Obama’s nominee for the agency’s director, is expected to face tough questioning during his confirmation hearing.
It follows the leak of a Justice Department memo setting out the legal basis for killing American citizens holding senior positions in al-Qaeda.
The strikes arouse intense public and political anger in Pakistan. However, the military has apparently never attempted to prevent drones entering its air space and an American diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks suggests Islamabad has given permission for the attacks.
El-Sayed, who was also known as Abu Saleh al-Masri, is the latest high-profile militant death.
He emerged as a senior figure in Egyptian Islamic Jihad and followed Zawahiri when he merged the movement with al-Qaeda in the 1990s.
His name appears on US and UN terror blacklists and he was convicted in absentia for the massacre in Luxor, when 62 people – mostly tourists – were shot dead by gunmen.
He was also sent to Italy to overhaul al-Qaeda’s Milan cell in 1998, where he was monitored by local intelligence agents, moving to Afghanistan two months before 9/11.
His martyrdom statement, translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, said he led bands of al-Qaeda fighters.
“After he reached Waziristan, he took charge of the [Angoor Ada] front in Afghanistan, and Allah granted him success in inflicting grave damage to the Crusader enemy, and he had many ****** activities and actions,” the martyrdom statement said.
A terrorist convicted for his role in the 1997 Luxor massacre and close confidante of Ayman al-Zawahiri, the al-Qaeda leader, has been killed by a drone strike in Pakistan, according to intelligence analysts.
Abd el Kader Mahmoud Mohamed el Sayed was once described as Osama bin Laden’s ambassador to Italy and his death is the latest blow to the group’s core leadership in Afghanistan and Pakistan.
He is believed to have been killed in May or June last year but details of his death were only recently posted online by the movement’s propaganda unit, leading analysts to conclude that al-Qaeda’s remnants are struggling to keep track of who is alive and who is dead.
Rahimullah Yusufzai, one of Pakistan’s leading experts on al-Qaeda, said: “This shows they have a real difficulty co-ordinating. They have scattered, gone underground and don’t seem to be able to maintain contact.”
The CIA’s covert drone programme is under intense scrutiny. On Thursday, John Brennan, Barack Obama’s nominee for the agency’s director, is expected to face tough questioning during his confirmation hearing.
It follows the leak of a Justice Department memo setting out the legal basis for killing American citizens holding senior positions in al-Qaeda.
The strikes arouse intense public and political anger in Pakistan. However, the military has apparently never attempted to prevent drones entering its air space and an American diplomatic cable published by Wikileaks suggests Islamabad has given permission for the attacks.
El-Sayed, who was also known as Abu Saleh al-Masri, is the latest high-profile militant death.
He emerged as a senior figure in Egyptian Islamic Jihad and followed Zawahiri when he merged the movement with al-Qaeda in the 1990s.
His name appears on US and UN terror blacklists and he was convicted in absentia for the massacre in Luxor, when 62 people – mostly tourists – were shot dead by gunmen.
He was also sent to Italy to overhaul al-Qaeda’s Milan cell in 1998, where he was monitored by local intelligence agents, moving to Afghanistan two months before 9/11.
His martyrdom statement, translated by the SITE Intelligence Group, said he led bands of al-Qaeda fighters.
“After he reached Waziristan, he took charge of the [Angoor Ada] front in Afghanistan, and Allah granted him success in inflicting grave damage to the Crusader enemy, and he had many ****** activities and actions,” the martyrdom statement said.
