Top al-Qaida operative killed in US drone strike

A TOP Arab al-Qaida operative was among six militants killed overnight in a suspected US missile strike in north-west Pakistan, a senior security official said yesterday.

Security sources identified the militant as Abdullah Azam al-Saudi.

“He was the man coordinating between al-Qaida and Taliban commanders on this side of the border, and also involved in recruiting and training fighters,” an Islamabad-based senior security official said.

Sources in the Taliban said al-Saudi was also a member of Taliban’s supreme council, or Shura, under its fugitive leader Mullah Mohammad Omar when it moved from Afghanistan into Pakistan a year ago.

“He was closely linked to al-Qaida number two Ayman al-Zawahiri,” a Taliban source said.

After the strike, al-Zawahiri warned US president-elect Barack Obama not to send more troops to Afghanistan, saying US policy was “doomed to failure” in an online audio message.

A security official said the US strike was carried out on intelligence that al-Saudi was in a house in Bannu district, which borders North Waziristan.

Terror network chief Osama Bin Laden is also widely believed to be hiding in the rugged region.