Terrorist Nicknamed 'Blind Sheik' Dies in US Prison

U.S. prison authorities say an Egyptian cleric convicted of participating in a plan to blow up landmarks in New York City has died in prison.

An official at the Federal Correction Complex in Butner, North Carolina, confirmed Saturday that Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman died early Saturday after a long battle with diabetes and coronary artery disease.

Abdel-Rahman was linked to the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center that killed six people but was not convicted of a crime directly related to it.

He had been incarcerated since 1995 for his advisory role in a failed plot to blow up Manhattan landmarks, including U.N. headquarters, as well as a key bridge and two heavily traveled highway tunnels leading into the city. His stated goal was to interfere with U.S. support for Israel and for Egypt.

A prison spokesman said Abdel-Rahman was 78.

His son told the Reuters news agency his family had received a call from U.S. authorities confirming the death.

Abdel-Rahman, an Egyptian, was nicknamed "the blind sheikh" because he lost his eyesight during childhood because of diabetes. He read Braille and attended an Islamic boarding school as a child. He became one of Egypt's most outspoken Muslim clerics, boldly denouncing the country's secularism.

Abdel-Rahman eventually moved to Afghanistan and developed a strong relationship with terrorist leader Osama bin Laden.

Despite spending the past two decades in U.S. federal prison, Abdel-Rahman still had a strong following in Egypt at the time of his death.

US Drone Strike in Pakistan Kills Al-Qaida No. 2

A U.S. official says a drone strike in northwestern Pakistan has killed al-Qaida's second in command, Abu Yahya al-Libi, dealing what is said to be a major blow to the terror group.

Tuesday's confirmation of al-Libi's death came a day after missiles from a U.S. drone hit a vehicle and compound in the North Waziristan tribal region, killing at least 15 people, including foreigners.

A Pakistani official said authorities had intercepted a telephone conversation in which militants talked about the death of an Arab, and residents in the area had said they believed al-Libi was in the compound at the time of the strike.  The senior al-Qaida leader was reportedly wounded in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan on 28 May.

The latest drone strike was the third since Saturday -- with a total of at least 27 people killed.

Pakistan's foreign ministry on Tuesday summoned Deputy U.S. Ambassador Richard Hoagland to convey "serious concern regarding drone strikes in Pakistani territory."  The ministry called the strikes "unlawful, against international law and a violation of Pakistan's sovereignty," and a "red-line" for the country.  It also noted that Pakistan's parliament had "emphatically stated" that drone strikes are "unacceptable."

The United States is likely to continue the drone strikes because they are an effective way to go after militants without endangering U.S. forces, said Christopher Snedden, a South Asia analyst with the Melbourne-based security consultancy Asia Calling, in an interview.

"I expect that they will do that because it's such an efficient way of running an operation. It may be reduced if Islamabad and Washington can actually improve their relationship but there's nothing in the short term that suggests that's going to happen," Snedden said.

The Libyan-born Libi has been running al-Qaida's day-to-day operations in Pakistan's tribal regions as well as its links to regional affiliates.  He escaped prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan in 2005 and appeared in a series of propaganda videos before rising to become the terror group's deputy leader last year.  The U.S. government had placed a $1 million price on his head.

At the Pentagon, spokesman John Kirby refused to provide reporters with details of counterterrorism operations.  But he said al-Libi is a "very dangerous individual, and for him to no longer be walking the earth would be a good thing for everybody."

The Pentagon spokesman also said U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta has made it very clear that the United States will deal with threats to the security of the United States and its allies "wherever they are."

Relations between Washington and Islamabad have reached a new low following last year's killing of al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan by U.S. special forces and the accidental killing of 24 Pakistani soldiers in a NATO air strike.

Pakistan's parliament has demanded a U.S. apology for the deadly cross-border attack last November and an end to the U.S. drone strikes. Washington refused to end the missions, saying drone strikes are a vital tool in the war against al-Qaida and the Taliban.  Islamabad responded by blocking NATO supply routes into Afghanistan and the two sides have yet to reach an agreement on reopening them.

Senior U.S. defense official Peter Lavoy is set to hold talks with Pakistani officials in Islamabad this week to try and break the deadlock over the supply routes.

Abu Yahya al-Libi
Was born in Libya around 1963.
Was captured in 2002.
Escaped from the Bagram Air Base prison in Afghanistan in 2005.
Became al-Qaida's number two leader in 2011.
U.S. offered a $1 million bounty for al-Libi.

Bin Laden Spent 30 Years Fighting, Then Hiding

Monday, 2 May 2011

U.S. President Barack Obama has announced that the world's most wanted terrorist leader, Osama bin Laden, has been killed. He was 54.

After the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington on September 11, 2001, then-U.S. president George W. Bush vowed to capture bin Laden – the man the president believed was behind the attacks.

Bin Laden first publicly claimed responsibility for the attacks in a video released in October 2004. He eluded attempts to capture him, disappearing along the border between Afghanistan and Pakistan, and sparking perhaps the largest manhunt in history.

But bin Laden's image as the world's most-wanted terrorist stands in sharp contrast to his peaceful and comfortable upbringing.

He was one of more than 50 children of a wealthy Saudi construction magnate and was raised in the opulence of Saudi Arabia's upper-class.

Bin Laden went on to pursue an engineering degree and seemed prepared to work in the family business.

However, when the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, bin Laden left home to join the fight against the Soviets.

He initially provided logistical support for new recruits to the Afghan mujahedin Islamic fighters – the same ones supported by the United States. But in the mid-1980s, bin Laden decided to use his share of his family's wealth to form his own militia force, which later became known as “al-Qaida” – Arabic for “The Base.”

In 1990, Saudi Arabia invited the U.S. to deploy troops within the country following Iraq's invasion of the oil-rich state of Kuwait. Bin Laden saw the arrival of non-Muslims on land considered holy in Islam as an affront to his religion. He protested strongly against the move, resulting in his expulsion from Saudi Arabia in 1991.

Bin Laden found refuge in Sudan, where he is said to have orchestrated attacks on the U.S. military in Somalia and Saudi Arabia. He returned to Afghanistan in 1996 after the Sudanese expelled him due to pressure from the U.S.

While there, he continued his campaign against the United States by allegedly masterminding the 1998 bombing of U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. His popularity grew among disaffected Arabs and those unhappy with U.S. policy in the Middle East.

Stopping bin Laden became the top priority for the United States following the 2001 attacks, a goal that Mr. Obama says remained the top priority under his leadership.

The Taliban refused to surrender the al-Qaida leader to U.S. authorities, prompting the United States to go to war in Afghanistan. The U.S. ousted the Taliban in December 2001, and Osama bin Laden went into hiding.

In his years at large, bin Laden released a series of audiotapes condemning the United States.

Now, nine years, seven months and 20 days since the September 11 attacks, Mr. Obama says “justice has been done” after a U.S. strike team killed bin Laden in a firefight during a raid on his hideout in Pakistan.

US Officials: Osama Bin Laden is Dead

VOA News
1 May 2011

U.S. officials say U.S. President Barack Obama is about to announce that the world's most wanted terrorist, al-Qaida leader Osama bin Laden, is dead and the United States has his body.

Mr. Obama is expected to make the announcement during a nationwide television appearance at the White House Sunday night.

This development would come nearly 10 years after the catastrophic attacks by al-Qaida operatives on the United States on September 11, 2001.