5 June 2012 Last updated at 18:19 GMT
Al-Qaeda commander Abu Yahya al-Libi killed - US officials
Abu Yahya al-Libi Libi had gravitas as a longstanding member of al-Qaeda's leadership, the US official said
Senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Yahya al-Libi was killed in a drone strike in Pakistan on Monday, a US official has told the BBC.
US officials said Libi was the target of a drone strike which hit a volatile tribal area of Pakistan's north-west, killing 15 suspected militants.
There has been no confirmation of his death from sources in Pakistan.
According to officials, he played a critical role in the group's planning against the West.
"There is no-one who even comes close in terms of replacing the expertise al-Qaeda has just lost," the US official told the BBC.
The source added that al-Qaeda's leadership "will be hard-pressed to find any one person who can readily step into [Libi's] shoes".
Washington believes that following Osama Bin Laden's death last year, Libi, an Islamic scholar from Libya, became al-Qaeda's second-in-command after Egyptian-born Ayman al-Zawahiri.
Libi had gravitas as a longstanding member of al-Qaeda's leadership, the official told the BBC, and his religious credentials meant he had the authority to issue fatwas and provide guidance to the Pakistan-based operation.
Anger in Pakistan
Monday's strike fired two missiles at a suspected militant compound in Hesokhel, east of Miranshah - the main town in the volatile tribal region of North Waziristan.
The first missile struck the compound, killing three militants, Pakistani security officials said.
A second missile then killed 12 more militants who had arrived at the scene, they added.
The drone attack sparked anger in Pakistan and the foreign ministry lodged a formal protest with a US diplomat in Islamabad.
It has called for an end to drone strikes, saying they represented a "clear red line for Pakistan".
It came after a recent surge in such attacks in Pakistan - there have been eight drone strikes over the past two weeks.
Drone strikes have increased in frequency since President Barack Obama took office in 2008 and hundreds of people have been killed.
The dead include senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders, as well as an unknown number of other militants and civilians.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-18334377
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