US drone strike kills another al Qaeda leader in North Waziristan

DERA ISMAIL KHAN: A US drone attack killed a senior al Qaeda commander in Pakistan’s northwest on Sunday, military intelligence officials said, the second militant leader to be killed in strikes by the unmanned aircraft in three days.

The attack killed Mohammad Ahmed Almansoor and three others in a village close to Miranshah, the main town in North Waziristan, near the Afghan border. Local sources told The Express Tribune that the three other people killed were Almansoor’s family members.

The drone fired missiles at a house with Almansoor inside, destroying two rooms and a car. Four drones were seen flying over the area during the attack, residents and government officials said.
The local sources added that Almansoor had been living in North Waziristan for a long time and used to wear the local dress.

An intelligence official told The Express Tribune that a foreigner was also reportedly killed in the attack, but his name and identity could not be ascertained as yet.

A similar attack on Thursday in North Waziristan had killed another senior al Qaeda commander, Abu Zaid, who replaced Abu Yahya al-Libi as one of the militant Islamist group’s most powerful figures, intelligence sources said.
A US drone attack also killed Libi in June.