Al-Qaeda announces death of top leader Yazid: SITE

[jefferson_dem]

Source: AFP

KABUL — Al-Qaeda has announced the death of a trusted aide to Osama bin Laden and its top leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the SITE group which monitors Islamist websites said on Tuesday.

Yazid, an Egyptian national also known as Sheikh Said, was said to be a founder member of Al-Qaeda and a former treasurer to bin Laden.

The SITE statement did not say how Yazid died, but said the message from Al-Qaeda to jihadist forums said his wife, three of his daughters, his granddaughter, and other men, women, and children, were killed.

Yazid was on the list of individuals, organisations and charities whose assets were frozen by the US Treasury in the wake of the September 11, 2001 attacks on the United States.

According to the US Federal Bureau of Investigation, it was Yazid who transferred funds via Dubai for Mohammed Atta, Marwan al-Shehhi and Wal al-Shehri, three of the September 11 hijackers who flew aircraft into the Twin Towers and the Pentagon.

Read more: http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ipuSmKX4IeI6qbCIjvlUMM2WfQCA

[Clio the Leo]

1. Well now that's interesting....

.... since one of our fellow DU'ers told me last week there were no longer any al-qaeda IN Afghanistan. ;)

[spiritual_gunfighter]

10. Cool

You know since you put it that way I totally support the war in Afghanistan now, thank you. What an iron clad argument you are presenting, since they got a member of AQ in Afghanistan, we should still totally be there.

[Clio the Leo]

2. More:

US officials tell ABC News that al Qaeda’s No. 3 -- Mustafa Ahmed Muhammad Uthman Abu al-Yazid, known as Shaikh Sa’id al-Masri and Mustafa Abu al-Yazid – has been killed. Al Qaeda released a eulogy of Shaikh Sa’id tonight, officials said.

"Word is spreading in extremist circles of the death of Sheikh Sa'id al-Masri, widely viewed as the number three figure in al-Qaeda,” a US official told ABC News. “We have strong reason to believe that's true, and that al-Masri was killed recently in Pakistan's tribal areas. In terms of counterterrorism, this would be a big victory.”

US officials believed him to have been killed about a week ago in Pakistan.

Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri are the spiritual founders, and considered No. 1 and No. 2 of al Qaeda list, but Shaikh Sa’id is considered the link between those two and rest of the operation, and for all intents and purposes the one running the organization day to day.

"Al-Masri was the group's chief operating officer,” the official said, “with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning. He was also the organization's prime conduit to Bin Ladin and Zawahiri. He was key to al-Qaeda's command and control.”

Shaikh Sa’id is the senior most al Qaeda official killed under President Obama, the officials said. An Egyptian, Shaikh Sa’id was formerly the chief financial officer of al Qaeda. The Sept. 11 Commission said that internally he argued against the 9/11 attacks "because he feared the U.S. response to an attack."

Three years ago, Al Jazeera ran a tape of Shaikh Sa’id presenting himself as the leader of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. He’s been promoted since then as those above him have been killed off.

The official said Shaikh Sa’id's "death would be a major blow to al-Qaeda, which in December lost both its internal and external operations chiefs." (A reference to the killings of Abdullah Said and Saleh al-Somali, respectively.)

"Though these terrorists remain extremely dangerous and determined to strike at the United States, the removal from the battlefield of top leaders like al-Masri is further proof that the tribal areas are not quite the safe haven al-Qaeda and its allies thought them to be," the official said.

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2010/05/officials-al-qaeda-no-3-killed.html#tp

[Clio the Leo]

3. al-Yazid: Al Qaeda ... would use Pakistani nuclear weapons (6/09)

(Reuters) - If it were in a position to do so, Al Qaeda would use Pakistan's nuclear weapons in its fight against the United States, a top leader of the group said in remarks aired on Sunday.

Pakistan has been battling al Qaeda's Taliban allies in the Swat Valley since April after their thrust into a district 100 km (60 miles) northwest of the capital raised fears the nuclear-armed country could slowly slip into militant hands.

"God willing, the nuclear weapons will not fall into the hands of the Americans and the mujahideen would take them and use them against the Americans," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, the leader of al Qaeda's in Afghanistan, said in an interview with Al Jazeera television.

Abu al-Yazid was responding to a question about U.S. safeguards to seize control over Pakistan's nuclear weapons in case Islamist fighters came close to doing so.

"We expect that the Pakistani army would be defeated (in Swat) ... and that would be its end everywhere, God willing."

Asked about the group's plans, the Egyptian militant leader said: "The strategy of the (al Qaeda) organisation in the coming period is the same as in the previous period: to hit the head of the snake, the head of tyranny -- the United States.

"That can be achieved through continued work on the open fronts and also by opening new fronts in a manner that achieves the interests of Islam and Muslims and by increasing military operations that drain the enemy financially."

The militant leader suggested that naming a new leader for the group's unit in the Arabian Peninsula, Abu Basir al-Wahayshi, could revive its campaign in Saudi Arabia, the world's top oil exporter.

"Our goals have been the Americans ... and the oil targets which they are stealing to gain power to strike the mujahideen and Muslims."

"There was a setback in work there for reasons that there is no room to state now, but as of late, efforts have been united and there is unity around a single leader."

Abu al-Yazid, also known as Abu Saeed al-Masri, said al Qaeda will continue "with large scale operations against the enemy" -- by which he meant the United States.

"We have demanded and we demand that all branches of al Qaeda carry out such operations," he said, referring to attacks against U.S.-led forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The militant leader said al Qaeda would be willing to accept a truce of about 10 years' duration with the United States if Washington agreed to withdraw its troops from Muslim countries and stopped backing Israel and the pro-Western governments of Muslim nations.

Asked about the whereabouts of al Qaeda's top leaders, he said: "Praise God, sheikh Osama (bin Laden) and sheikh Ayman al-Zawahri are safe from the reach of the enemies, but we would not say where they are; moreover, we do not know where they are, but we're in continuous contact with them."

http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-40495320090621

[Hawkeye-X]

4. Al-Qaida's third in command reportedly killed

Source: GEM$NBC

Source: Drone strike on bin Laden's brother-in-law

Al-Qaida's number three — a co-founder of the terror network and Osama bin Laden's brother-in-law — has been killed in Pakistan's border area with Afghanistan, according to a statement attributed to the group that was posted on Islamist websites Monday.

The statement did not say how Shaykh Saeed, whose real name is Shaykh Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, was killed nor did it identify a successor. Saeed was also al-Qaida's financial director.

One senior U.S. official speaking on condition of anonymity told NBC News that Saeed was killed in an attack by a missile-carrying drone aircraft.

Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/37440747/ns/world_news-south_and_central_asia/

---

Ok, line up another #2 and #3 for Murkans to kill in the name of profits.

[OhioChick]

5. Oh....we finally moved on to #3 now. n/t

[Dennis Donovan]

7. Al Qaeda's BEST job: being the #1 man...

Al Qaeda's Worst job: being the #2 or 3 man...;)

[ZombieHorde]

6. And now there is a new number three. nt

[htuttle]

8. A new number 3 or a new new number 3?

I've losing track.

[ZombieHorde]

9. Good question, my memory fails me. nt