Al Qaeda’s second-in-command Ayman Al-Zawahiri confirmed on Wednesday that Abu Laith Al-Libi was killed last month in a missile attack in North Waziristan. Vowing revenge for Al-Libi’s killing, Zawahiri, in a video posted on the Internet, said, | “No chief of ours had died of a natural death." |
Libi, considered one of Osama Bin Laden’s top lieutenants in Afghanistan, was killed in a suspected US missile strike that killed up to 13 foreign militants in the North Waziristan border area in late January. “So seek help O Americans and agents of Americans ... from those seeking a way out ... They will be of no help to you,” Zawahiri added, referring to Muslim clerics who have criticised jihadist militants.
The video was produced by Al QaedaÂ’s media arm As-Sahab and carried English subtitles. Earlier, AFP had reported As-Sahab as saying that Zawahiri would deliver a message containing a tribute to Al-Libi. It made the announcement on the Islamist website, Al-Ekhlaas, without stating when the message would be released. Zawahiri last made a public declaration in December, when he used an audiotape to lash out at a US-hosted Middle East peace conference, calling it a betrayal of the Palestinians. LibiÂ’s prominence in Al Qaeda was highlighted last year by his appearance in a video with Zawahri. According to Reuters, he was the first spokesman to announce that Bin Laden had survived the US-led invasion of Afghanistan.