Before he was killed in a US drone strike last week, al Qaida’s second-in-command urged Arabs to take up arms to assist Syrian rebels in their uprising against President Bashar Assad.

PAKISTANIS yesterday protested against a suspected American missile strike that intelligence officials said killed a British citizen linked to a plot to blow up jetliners, saying their Western-allied government must stop the cross-border attacks.

One of al-Qaida’s top commanders in Afghanistan, Abu Laith al-Libi, was killed in Pakistan according to a website used by militant groups.