9/11 Message: Al Qaeda chief confirms death of Bin Laden confidant

A video featuring him was released by al Qaeda a week after his death.

CAIRO:

Al Qaeda confirmed on Tuesday that one of the group’s most senior figures, veteran militant Abu Yahya al Libi, had died in a US drone strike earlier this year.

The US government said in June it had killed Libi in Pakistan, dealing the biggest in a series of blows to the group since the raid that killed Osama bin Laden last year. “I proudly announce to the Muslim umma and to the Mujahideen (holy fighters)... the news of the martyrdom of the lion of Libya Sheikh Hassan Mohammed Qaed,” al Qaeda leader Ayman al Zawahiri said in a video released on militant websites, referring to Libi by his birth name.

Zawahiri’s statement was the first acknowledgement by al Qaeda that Libi had died. Recently released letters written by Bin Laden and captured during the US raid in which he was killed show Bin Laden relied on Libi to promote the group case to a worldwide audience of militants, in particular to the young.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 12^th, 2012.