Thursday, March 8, 2012

Ilyas Kashmiri: Not as Dead as Previously Thought?

The Long War Journal, citing reporting by the Daily Times of Pakistan, reports that senior al-Qa'ida leader Ilyas Kashmiri recently met with Hakeemullah Mehsud in North Waziristan.  This is significant because -- for those who don't remember -- U.S. intelligence officials claimed that Kashmiri was killed in a Predator strike in Pakistan on June 3, 2011. 

Well, damn!

As I noted at the time, Kashmiri's death was (or would have been) significant given his effectiveness as an operational commander and the importance of taking out al-Qa'ida's broader network in addition to killing bin Laden. 

Sadly, it turns out Ilyas Kashmiri was only mostly dead, and as Miracle Max can attest, "There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead!"
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2 comments:

  1. KevinMarch 8, 2012 at 6:05 PM

    Ben, the report was yellow journalism.

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  2. KevinMarch 8, 2012 at 6:09 PM

    It was also reported that journalists cannot access the tribal regions of Pakistan. The Daily Times is only reporting unprovable nonsense to get people to read their newspaper. There was also similar reports earlier in July 2011 that Kashmiri was still operating in Waziristan and they were never confirmed

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