Six Al Qaeda leaders killed in US drone attack: report

At least six Al Qaeda commanders were killed during the recent US drone attack in the Dattakhel area of North Waziristan tribal region, a report published in The News quoted leadership of the group as saying.

The head of the Al Qaeda victory committee, Sanafi al-Nasr, who is based in Syria, confirmed via a social networking site that six members from the group were killed in the July 10 drone attack.

The drone attack of July 10 was the first one since the army launched Zarb-i-Azb in North Waziristan on June 15.

The dead also included Al Qaeda’s local commander Mustafa Abu Yazid. However, at the time of the strike, it could not be confirmed who were the others among the killed.

Nasr is a Saudi national whose real name is Abdul Mohsin Abdullah Ibrahim Al Sharikh, the report said, adding that he is responsible for developing and implementing Qaeda’s strategy and policies.

Nasr was based in the Waziristan tribal belt before relocating to Syria.

While tweeting on the Qaeda members, Nasr named three of them — Taj Al Makki, Abu Abdur Rahman Al Kuwaiti and Fayez Awda Al Khalidi. He did not name the three others.

Makki from Saudi Arabia, Rahman from Kuwait and Khalidi were mid-level commanders and were important to the terror group due to their association with Nasr, The News said in its report.