Abdullah Said al Libi

"Abdallah Sa'id (al Qaida leader)" redirects here. For other uses, see Abdullah Said (disambiguation).
Abdullah Said al-Libi
Died(2009-12-17)December 17, 2009
Pakistan
NationalityLibyan
Other namesAbdallah Sa'id

Abdullah Said al-Libi (died 17 December 2009) was described as being an al Qaeda operational leader in Pakistan.[1][2] He is reported to have previously served in the Libyan military.[3] He led an al-Qaeda paramilitary force.[4] Said al-Libi was killed in a drone strike on 17 December 2009 in North Waziristan.[5][6] In April 2009 he had released a statement where he identified himself as the leader of al Qaeda's efforts to take control of Khorasan - an ancient Islamic province that included Afghanistan, Pakistan, and some neighboring areas.

According to Joby Warrick, the author of The Triple Agent, al Libi had lived with Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi, who would later convince Central Intelligence Agency officers that he was their double agent within al Qaeda, only to detonate a suicide bomb, killing several of them.[4] His suicide bombing is said to have been in retaliation for the killing of al Libi, Abu Saleh al Somali and Baitullah Mehsud.[3]

  1. ^ Matt Apuzzo (2010-02-12). "Evolving US strategy widens assault on terrorists". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2010-02-17. Senior al-Qaida operatives Saleh al-Somali and Abdallah Sa'id were killed in airstrikes in December.
  2. ^ David Ignatius (2010-02-17). "What the partisan squabbles miss on Obama's terror response". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2012-11-10. These raids have ravaged the top tier of al-Qaeda's lieutenants. The victims include Saleh al-Somali, the chief of external operations, who was killed Dec. 8; Abdullah Said al-Libi, the chief of operations in Pakistan, who was killed Dec. 17; and Tahir Yuldashev, the leader of the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, who was killed in August.
  3. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference longwarjournal2010-01-07 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ a b Warrick, Joby (2012). The Triple Agent. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 90–91, 154, 157, 187. ISBN 9780307742315.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference longwarjournal2010-01-08 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference usatoday2015-03-19 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).