Reports about this have been floating around for a while but this is the first I’ve seen with a name — and that of a “natural successor to Bin Laden” to boot.
(CBS) A U.S. government official says a top al Qaeda operative has been killed in a drone attack in western Pakistan, and local media says that the strike killed al Qaeda’s number 3 in command, Abu Yahya al-Libi.
The U.S. is still not confirming the report, CBS News has learned.
Abu Yahya al-Libi is the spiritual successor to Palestinian philosopher Abu Azzam – and the inspiration for much of Bin Laden’s beliefs, according to CBS News chief foreign affairs correspondent Lara Logan. He is very powerful and believed by some to be the natural successor to Bin Laden.
Intelligence officials have confirmed that the pace of attacks by armed unmanned aerial vehicles has increased during the Obama administration.
As Jim Geraghty Tweeted: “If our drone killed an al-Qaeda bigwig DURING Obama’s Nobel Peace Prize speech, it would be as cool as the closing scenes of The Godfather.”