http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/16/world/asia/cia-kills-top-qaeda-operative-in-drone-strike.html

September 15, 2011

C.I.A. Kills Top Qaeda Operative in Drone Strike

By MARK MAZZETTI

WASHINGTON -- An armed drone operated by the Central Intelligence Agency this week killed a top Qaeda operative responsible for plotting terrorist attacks inside Pakistan, two American officials said on Thursday.

The killing of Abu Hafs al-Shariri occurred Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. It is the latest strike in the C.I.A.'s campaign of targeted killings of Qaeda operatives that has intensified under the Obama administration.

The strike comes less than a month after a C.I.A. drone killed Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, a Libyan who was promoted to become Al Qaeda's second-ranking operative after the death of Osama bin Laden in May. The C.I.A. in recent months has also killed Ilyas Kashmiri, a Pakistani militant commander who worked closely with Al Qaeda's leadership.

Little is known publicly about Mr. Shariri, a Saudi whom a senior administration official said acted as a liaison between Al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, the group that has directed a wave of attacks against Pakistani government installations and hotels frequented by Westerners. According to an Interpol alert, Mr. Shariri was 33.

The C.I.A. drone campaign has strained America's relationship with Pakistan, even though top leaders in Islamabad have tacitly blessed the operations. The pace of the drone strikes appears to have left the cadre of Qaeda operatives in Pakistan reeling, and American intelligence officials now believe that Al Qaeda's affiliate in Yemen is a more potent threat than the "core" group of operatives hiding in Pakistan.

A second American official called Sunday's strike "another blow at the core of Al Qaeda" because Mr. Shariri had been set to take on a more prominent role inside the organization after the death of Mr. Rahman, and because Al Qaeda is having ever greater trouble replenishing its senior ranks.

"The loss of their chief of operations in Pakistan, an individual who played a key operational and administrative role for the group, will pose a challenge for Zawahiri," said the official, referring to Al Qaeda's leader Ayman al-Zawahri.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because, despite the fact that C.I.A. drone strikes are widely discussed and reported publicly, the spy agency's drone program remains classified.