Al Qaeda confirms US strike killed American spokesperson in Pakistan

In a special issue of al Qaeda English-language magazine editor confirms Azzam was killed in a drone strike


Afp June 25, 2015
PHOTO: AFP

DUBAI: Al Qaeda has confirmed that a US drone strike earlier this year killed its English-language spokesperson, a California native known as Azzam the American, SITE Intelligence Group reported Thursday.

In a special issue of al Qaeda English-language magazine Resurgence, editor Hassaan Yusuf wrote that Azzam, whose real name was Adam Gadahn, was killed in a strike thought to have taken place in January on an al Qaeda compound in Pakistan.

Read: US, Italian hostages 'converted to Islam' before being killed in drone strike

Yusuf also said Ahmed Faruq, an American described as a leader of al Qaeda in the Indian subcontinent, and American and Italian hostages Warren Weinstein and Giovanni Lo Porto, were killed in another strike "a few weeks" prior.

The White House has said neither Gadahn nor Faruq were specifically targeted in the strikes, and US President Barack Obama said in April he took "full responsibility" for the accidental killing of the hostages.

Read: Despite hostage deaths, majority of Americans still support drone strikes in Pakistan

Gadahn was a teenage death metal music fan who grew up on a California goat farm before he was drawn into radical Islam.

He was one of the most high-profile figures in the global militant movement and a regular online presence, taunting his homeland and inciting attacks.

COMMENTS (2)

Dipak | 8 years ago | Reply Azam Khan is safe and sound in UP with his nine buffallos.
Beck | 8 years ago | Reply Isn't he the one instrumental behind 9/11 attacks, the one who brought havoc to Afghanistan by drawing wrath of US? This is how you repay your host.
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