Cairo: Al-Qaeda’s leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a video message on Tuesday confirmed the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi, a veteran militant said to have been a leader of the group’s operations, and who had survived previous US attacks.
The US government said in June that a drone strike in Pakistan had killed Libi, dealing the biggest in a series of blows to the militant group since the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year.
“I proudly announce to the Muslim umma and to the mujdahideen (holy fighters) the news of the martyrdom of Libya’s lion Sheikh Hassan Mohammed Qaed,” Reuters quoted Zawahiri as saying in the video.
Zawahiri’s statement was the first acknowledgement by Al Qaeda that Libi had died.
Zawahiri’s posting said the recording was made during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, which ran from mid-July to mid-August, but that it was released to coincide with the anniversary of the September 11 attacks of 2001.
“This liar is trying to fool Americans into believing that he will defeat al Qaeda by killing this person or than person,” he said, referring to U.S. President Barack Obama. “But he escapes from the fact that he was defeated in Iraq and Afghanistan.”
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