Abdullah Said al-Libi is described as being an al Qaeda operational leader in

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. He is reported to have previously served in the Libyan military. He led an al-Qaeda paramilitary force. Said al-Libi was killed in a

drone strike Drone warfare is a form of aerial warfare using unmanned combat aerial vehicles (UCAV) or weaponized commercial unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV). The United States, United Kingdom, Israel, China, South Korea, Iran, Italy, France, India, Pakist ...

on 17 December 2009 in North Waziristan. 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 Joby Warrick (born August 4, 1960) is an American journalist who has worked for ''The Washington Post'' since 1996, mostly writing about the Middle East, diplomacy, and national security. He has also written about the intelligence community, the ...

, the author of ''The Triple Agent'', al Libi had lived with

Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi Humam Khalil Abu-Mulal al-Balawi (25 December 1977 – 30 December 2009) was a Jordanian doctor and a triple agent suicide bomber loyal to Islamist extremists who carried out the Camp Chapman attack, a suicide attack against a CIA base near Kho ...

, who would later convince

Central Intelligence Agency The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA ), known informally as the Agency and historically as the Company, is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States, officially tasked with gathering, processing, ...

officers that he was their double agent within al Qaeda, only to detonate a suicide bomb, killing several of them. His suicide bombing is said to have been in retaliation for the killing of al Libi, Abu Saleh al Somali and

Baitullah Mehsud Baitullah Mehsud ( Pashto/ ur, ; – 5 August 2009) was one of founder and a leading member of TTP in Waziristan, Pakistan, and the leader of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). He formed the TTP from an alliance of about five militant gr ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Libi, Abdullah Said Year of birth missing 2009 deaths Al-Qaeda planners Libyan al-Qaeda members Libyan Sunni Muslims Assassinated al-Qaeda leaders Deaths by United States drone strikes in Pakistan Libyan expatriates in Pakistan