February 1, 2008
WASHINGTON — An American missile strike in Pakistan’s northwestern tribal areas killed a senior commander of Al Qaeda who had been involved in planning attacks on United States and NATO troops in Afghanistan, American officials said Thursday.
The commander, Abu Laith al-Libi, a Libyan who was about 40 years old, was a longtime lieutenant of Osama bin Laden, the American officials said. He played a pivotal role in recruiting and training operatives in the mountainous tribal areas of western Pakistan, they said. Al Qaeda has built makeshift compounds where both Pakistani militants and foreign fighters conduct training and planning for terrorist attacks.
The American missile strike this week could signal an escalation in American covert action aimed at killing terrorist leaders and dismantling their networks in the tribal areas.Both the American military and the Central Intelligence Agency fly Predator surveillance aircraft armed with Hellfire missiles along the mountainous border of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
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