Al Qaeda’s second-in-command killed in Pakistan

Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, has been killed in Pakistan, delivering another big blow to a terrorist group.

Reportedly, Atiyah Abd al-Rahman was killed in Pakistan which is another big shock to a terrorist group that the US believes to be on the verge of defeat, a senior Obama administration official said Saturday.

The Libyan national who was the network’s former operational leader rose to Al Qaeda’s No 2 spot after the US killed Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden during a raid on his compound in May.
US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta said last month that Al Qaeda’s defeat was within reach if the US could mount a string of successful attacks on the group’s weakened leadership.
Al-Rahman was killed Aug 22 in the tribal region of Waziristan, according to an official, who insisted on anonymity to discuss intelligence issues, the report said.
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The official did not confirm how al-Rahman was killed but his death came on the same day that a CIA drone strike was reported in Waziristan. Such strikes by unmanned aircraft were Washington’s weapon of choice for killing terrorists in the mountainous, hard-to-reach area along the Pakistan-Afghanistan border.

Al-Rahman, believed to be in his mid-30s, was a close confidant of bin Laden and once served as bin Laden’s emissary to Iran. Born in Libya, al-Rahman joined bin Laden as a teenager in Afghanistan to fight the Soviet Union.