SgtJim
06-05-2011, 06:18 AM
10862
By Bill Roggio @ longwarjournal
June 4, 2011
(thx for the notice to topgun1792)
---
he US has killed Ilyas Kashmiri, one of al Qaeda's most dangerous military commanders and strategists, in a Predator airstrike yesterday in South Waziristan.
Kashmiri is said to be one of nine members of the al Qaeda-linked Harkat-ul Jihad Islami, or HUJI, who were killed in yesterday's Predator airstrike that leveled a compound in the Wana area of South Waziristan (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/06/us_predators_kill_5_6.php).
A Harkat-ul Jihad Islami spokesman named Abu Hanzla Kashir told Dawn (http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/04/ilyas-kashmiri-killed-in-us-drone-strike.html) that Kashmiri was killed in the attack. Kashir also threatened to attack the US to avenge Kashmiri's death.
10863
Ilyas Kashmiri,
the leader of the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami
and al Qaeda's Brigade 313.
"We confirm that our Amir (leader) and commander in chief, Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, along with other companions, was martyred in an American drone strike on June 3, 2011, at 11:15 pm," Kashir told the Pakistani news channel, according to The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8556854/American-drones-thought-to-have-killed-al-Qaedas-chief-military-commander.html).
"The oppressor US is our only target and, God willing, we will take revenge on the U.S. soon with full force," Kashir said, according to CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/06/04/pakistan.jihadist.killed/index.html).
US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal said that Kashmiri was indeed a target of the attack, but they could not confirm that he was killed.
"HUJI's statement is a sure sign we got him, we are pretty confident he is dead but we cannot confirm 100 percent," one official told The Long War Journal. The area where Kashmiri was killed is under Taliban control.
Another HUJI leader, Qari Mohammad Idrees, told The News (http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=6495&Cat=13&dt=6/5/2011) that Kashmiri was killed after traveling from South Waziristan to North Waziristan in an effort to dodge a rumored Pakistani military offensive.
"We lost our hero finally. He was the hero of Islam, Kashmir and Afghanistan," Idrees told The News.
The attack took place in an area of South Waziristan controlled by Mullah Nazir, a Taliban commander who has proudly admitted he is also an al Qaeda leader. The Pakistani military refuses to move against Nazir as he is considered a "good Taliban" leader because he does not attack the state. Nazir does shelter al Qaeda and other terror groups, and carries out attacks in Afghanistan.
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/06/top_al_qaeda_leader_2.php#ixzz1OOZueuRH
By Bill Roggio @ longwarjournal
June 4, 2011
(thx for the notice to topgun1792)
---
he US has killed Ilyas Kashmiri, one of al Qaeda's most dangerous military commanders and strategists, in a Predator airstrike yesterday in South Waziristan.
Kashmiri is said to be one of nine members of the al Qaeda-linked Harkat-ul Jihad Islami, or HUJI, who were killed in yesterday's Predator airstrike that leveled a compound in the Wana area of South Waziristan (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/06/us_predators_kill_5_6.php).
A Harkat-ul Jihad Islami spokesman named Abu Hanzla Kashir told Dawn (http://www.dawn.com/2011/06/04/ilyas-kashmiri-killed-in-us-drone-strike.html) that Kashmiri was killed in the attack. Kashir also threatened to attack the US to avenge Kashmiri's death.
10863
Ilyas Kashmiri,
the leader of the Harkat-ul Jihad Islami
and al Qaeda's Brigade 313.
"We confirm that our Amir (leader) and commander in chief, Mohammad Ilyas Kashmiri, along with other companions, was martyred in an American drone strike on June 3, 2011, at 11:15 pm," Kashir told the Pakistani news channel, according to The Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/al-qaeda/8556854/American-drones-thought-to-have-killed-al-Qaedas-chief-military-commander.html).
"The oppressor US is our only target and, God willing, we will take revenge on the U.S. soon with full force," Kashir said, according to CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/asiapcf/06/04/pakistan.jihadist.killed/index.html).
US intelligence officials contacted by The Long War Journal said that Kashmiri was indeed a target of the attack, but they could not confirm that he was killed.
"HUJI's statement is a sure sign we got him, we are pretty confident he is dead but we cannot confirm 100 percent," one official told The Long War Journal. The area where Kashmiri was killed is under Taliban control.
Another HUJI leader, Qari Mohammad Idrees, told The News (http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=6495&Cat=13&dt=6/5/2011) that Kashmiri was killed after traveling from South Waziristan to North Waziristan in an effort to dodge a rumored Pakistani military offensive.
"We lost our hero finally. He was the hero of Islam, Kashmir and Afghanistan," Idrees told The News.
The attack took place in an area of South Waziristan controlled by Mullah Nazir, a Taliban commander who has proudly admitted he is also an al Qaeda leader. The Pakistani military refuses to move against Nazir as he is considered a "good Taliban" leader because he does not attack the state. Nazir does shelter al Qaeda and other terror groups, and carries out attacks in Afghanistan.
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2011/06/top_al_qaeda_leader_2.php#ixzz1OOZueuRH