Thursday, July 23, 2009

Bin Laden's Son Believed Killed In Predator Strike In Pakistan


First off, this is an unconfirmed report so we'll have to wait to be sure but reports are that a U.S. predator drone attack in NW Pakistan has sent Osama bin Laden's son, Sa'ad bin Laden, straight to Hell. Can my smile be any bigger? What's that old saying...."like father, like son"? Perhaps this time we can turn that one around and make it ...."like son, like father."

Now, intelligence officials aren't saying much of anything about which strike had perhaps gotten bin Laden's son, but at this moment it appears it might be more of a long shot in that there isn't information that an actual body has been recovered nor has there been any kind of martyrdom announcement from al Qaeda.

Sa'ad bin Laden wasn't just a figurehead in al Qaeda as he actually was in a senior operations role so not only would this be a personal hit against the al Qaeda leader but would also mean it took out a valuable resource to the terrorist group. Here's the story from The Long War Journal:


Osama bin Laden's son thought killed in Predator strike

Sa'ad bin Laden, the son of Osama bin Laden, is thought to have been killed in a US Predator airstrike in Pakistan's tribal areas. The report has not been confirmed.
Sa'ad is thought to have been killed during a strike earlier this year, US intelligence officials told The Long War Journal.
"We're pretty sure but we're not certain," one official said. "We are hopeful."
US intelligence officials want to confirm or deny Sa'ad's death by using DNA testing. But it is unclear if they have recovered a body from the attack site.
The officials would not identify the date or the location of the airstrike that is thought to have killed Sa'ad. The covert US air campaign has focused heavily on North and South Waziristan. Fifty percent of the attacks occurred in South Waziristan, and 38 percent took place in North Waziristan, according to data compiled by The Long War Journal. The US has killed a total of 22 High Value Targets, which include some of the high- and mid-level Taliban and al Qaeda leadership in the tribal agencies since the first strike was reported back in June 2004 [see LWJ report, US Predator strikes in Pakistan: Observations].
Al Qaeda has neither confirmed nor denied Sa'ad's death. Al Qaeda typically issues a martyrdom statement for senior leaders and commanders who have been killed in battle.
Sa'ad is considered a senior leader in al Qaeda. He is an operational commander who was involved in the 2003 bombings in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. He is known to shelter in Iran and move back and forth across the border with Pakistan.
He is reported to have facilitated communications between Ayman al Zawahiri and Qods Force, the notorious special operations branch of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps, in September 2008 after the deadly attack on the US embassy in Yemen.
Sa'ad made "key decisions for al Qaeda and was part of a small group of al Qaeda members that was involved in managing the terrorist organization from Iran," according to the US Treasury report that designated him as a terrorist on Jan. 16, 2009. "As of September 2008, it was possible that Sa'ad bin Laden was no longer in Iranian custody," the Treasury reported.
Sa'ad is believed to have entered Pakistan’s northwest to meet with Zawahiri in Pakistan sometime in early September, according to Mike McConnell, the outgoing Director of National Intelligence.

1 comment:

Esquerita said...

Al Qaeda attack Shia Muslims and their shrines - Iran is not working with them and will never. No matter how much some people in the US (and Israel) wish that were the case, the gulf between these two groups is too big.

But I hope they got this guy.