AI
Sunday, December 07, 2014 3:51:33 AM
Pakistani Military Kills a Qaeda Leader
By ISMAIL KHANDEC. 6, 2014
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Pakistani military said Saturday that it had killed a senior leader of Al Qaeda wanted in the United States on charges of plotting to bomb several Western targets, including the New York City subway system.
The death of Adnan G. el-Shukrijumah, described by the F.B.I. as a leader in Al Qaeda’s external operations program, marks a major counterterrorism victory for the Pakistani military, and is likely to further improve fraught relations with the United States.
Mr. Shukrijumah was killed either late Friday or early Saturday in a raid at a remote compound in the tribal district of South Waziristan, which is home to many militants and is a major focus of the C.I.A.-led drone campaign. It comes just over a week after a trip to Washington by the Pakistani Army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, who met with Secretary of State John Kerry and American military leaders in a visit intended to repair a strategic relationship that has long been scarred by acrimony and mistrust.
Saudi national Adnan
el-Shukrijumah in 2004.
FBI, via Agence France-Presse —
Getty Images
Mr. Shukrijumah, 39, a naturalized American citizen who was born in Saudi Arabia, was indicted in the United States in 2010 .. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/nyregion/08terror.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C{%221%22%3A%22RI%3A11%22} .. for what prosecutors say was his role in a plot, uncovered the previous year, to bomb the New York subways. The F.B.I. had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
The Pakistani military said in a statement that the operation to capture Mr. Shukrijumah began late Friday when helicopter gunships swooped on a compound in the village of Shin Warsak, about five miles west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan.
The attack touched off a gun battle that continued into early Saturday morning, said a senior military official who, lacking the authority to speak to the media, spoke on the condition of anonymity. It ended with the deaths of Mr. Shukrijumah, an Afghan aide and one Pakistani soldier, whose photo was later posted on the military’s website. Another soldier was critically wounded.
A resident of the area, speaking by telephone, said the raid had occurred in a settlement that was occupied mostly by Afghan refugees. Mr. Shukrijumah and the other men had moved into the house about two weeks ago, he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. Mr. Shukrijumah had moved to Shin Warsak from North Waziristan, a neighboring tribal region, after a military operation against militants there, the army statement said.
South Waziristan is a major target of the American drone campaign in Pakistan, which started in June 2004 with a missile strike on a target close to the village where Mr. Shukrijumah was killed. On Saturday, Pakistani military officials were at pains to stress that the information leading to Mr. Shukrijumah’s whereabouts had come from their own sources, not American ones.
“Americans often question our sincerity, asking, ‘Where are the high-profile militants?’ ” said one of those officials. “Today’s operation is an answer.”
The military said Mr. Shukrijumah’s death stemmed partly from the drive against Taliban and allied militants in North Waziristan, which started six months ago and has caused many militant groups to scatter.
But American and Afghan officials, and many counterterrorism experts, say that Pakistan’s push against the militants is selective and that it continues to strategically support certain groups, particularly those that carry out attacks in India and Afghanistan.
Mr. Shukrijumah spent some of his early years in Brooklyn and went to college in Florida. His indictment accused him of conspiring to bomb three lines of New York City’s subway system and a shopping center in Manchester, England, a plot said to have been coordinated by Qaeda leaders based in Pakistan’s tribal belt.
A senior intelligence official in Peshawar said Mr. Shukrijumah had been “very active” in Waziristan until about 2009, when Pakistani intelligence agencies lost track of him, leading to reports that he had fled the country. “He was invisible,” the official said.
Declan Walsh contributed reporting from London, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/world/pakistan-kills-senior-qaeda-leader-wanted-by-fbi.html
By ISMAIL KHANDEC. 6, 2014
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — The Pakistani military said Saturday that it had killed a senior leader of Al Qaeda wanted in the United States on charges of plotting to bomb several Western targets, including the New York City subway system.
The death of Adnan G. el-Shukrijumah, described by the F.B.I. as a leader in Al Qaeda’s external operations program, marks a major counterterrorism victory for the Pakistani military, and is likely to further improve fraught relations with the United States.
Mr. Shukrijumah was killed either late Friday or early Saturday in a raid at a remote compound in the tribal district of South Waziristan, which is home to many militants and is a major focus of the C.I.A.-led drone campaign. It comes just over a week after a trip to Washington by the Pakistani Army chief, Gen. Raheel Sharif, who met with Secretary of State John Kerry and American military leaders in a visit intended to repair a strategic relationship that has long been scarred by acrimony and mistrust.
Saudi national Adnan
el-Shukrijumah in 2004.
FBI, via Agence France-Presse —
Getty Images
Mr. Shukrijumah, 39, a naturalized American citizen who was born in Saudi Arabia, was indicted in the United States in 2010 .. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/08/nyregion/08terror.html?module=Search&mabReward=relbias%3Aw%2C{%221%22%3A%22RI%3A11%22} .. for what prosecutors say was his role in a plot, uncovered the previous year, to bomb the New York subways. The F.B.I. had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his capture.
The Pakistani military said in a statement that the operation to capture Mr. Shukrijumah began late Friday when helicopter gunships swooped on a compound in the village of Shin Warsak, about five miles west of Wana, the main town in South Waziristan.
The attack touched off a gun battle that continued into early Saturday morning, said a senior military official who, lacking the authority to speak to the media, spoke on the condition of anonymity. It ended with the deaths of Mr. Shukrijumah, an Afghan aide and one Pakistani soldier, whose photo was later posted on the military’s website. Another soldier was critically wounded.
A resident of the area, speaking by telephone, said the raid had occurred in a settlement that was occupied mostly by Afghan refugees. Mr. Shukrijumah and the other men had moved into the house about two weeks ago, he said, speaking on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisals. Mr. Shukrijumah had moved to Shin Warsak from North Waziristan, a neighboring tribal region, after a military operation against militants there, the army statement said.
South Waziristan is a major target of the American drone campaign in Pakistan, which started in June 2004 with a missile strike on a target close to the village where Mr. Shukrijumah was killed. On Saturday, Pakistani military officials were at pains to stress that the information leading to Mr. Shukrijumah’s whereabouts had come from their own sources, not American ones.
“Americans often question our sincerity, asking, ‘Where are the high-profile militants?’ ” said one of those officials. “Today’s operation is an answer.”
The military said Mr. Shukrijumah’s death stemmed partly from the drive against Taliban and allied militants in North Waziristan, which started six months ago and has caused many militant groups to scatter.
But American and Afghan officials, and many counterterrorism experts, say that Pakistan’s push against the militants is selective and that it continues to strategically support certain groups, particularly those that carry out attacks in India and Afghanistan.
Mr. Shukrijumah spent some of his early years in Brooklyn and went to college in Florida. His indictment accused him of conspiring to bomb three lines of New York City’s subway system and a shopping center in Manchester, England, a plot said to have been coordinated by Qaeda leaders based in Pakistan’s tribal belt.
A senior intelligence official in Peshawar said Mr. Shukrijumah had been “very active” in Waziristan until about 2009, when Pakistani intelligence agencies lost track of him, leading to reports that he had fled the country. “He was invisible,” the official said.
Declan Walsh contributed reporting from London, and Salman Masood from Islamabad, Pakistan.
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/world/pakistan-kills-senior-qaeda-leader-wanted-by-fbi.html
It was Plato who said, “He, O men, is the wisest, who like Socrates, knows that his wisdom is in truth worth nothing”
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