(Previous Incident Code: Ob278 )

Al Qaeda’s effective number two, Abu Yahya al Libi (aka Mohammed Hasan Qaed), was killed as the CIA continued with a tempo of strikes not seen in Pakistan for over a year. The Islamabad government once again condemned the attacks as ‘illegal’ and urged the US to stop. Drones struck at 5am in North Waziristan, killing up to 18 people as a house and some vehicles were hit. US and Taliban figures confirmed the following day that al Libi had died in the attack. Some reports claimed that al Qaeda was now so degraded in Pakistan that there was no natural successor to succeed al Libi. White House spokesman Jay Carney said of his death:

His death is part of the degradation that has been taking place to core al Qaeda during the past several years and that degradation has depleted the ranks to such an extent that there’s no clear successor.

One anonymous US official claimed that only five people died in the strike, another that only al-Libi died. However most sources reported between 14 and 18 deaths, including al-Libi’s driver and bodyguard. According to the BBC, the CIA attacked militants attending the scene of an initial strike. This was born out by a Bureau field investigation into follow-up or ‘double-tap’ strikes. The Bureau’s researchers in Pakistan found five people were killed and four more injured in the first attack which damaged a car and two motorbikes parked inside the house compound were also damaged. Twelve people arrived to start rescue work about 10 minutes alter. There were Arabs, Turkmen and local tribesmen among the first responders. Twenty minutes later a drone fired two more missiles killing 10 more people. Al Libi was observing the rescue operation when he was killed.

A 2013 report by Amnesty International produced similar results to the Bureau’s investigation. Amnesty researchers compiled data from multiple interviews with witnesses and survivors, finding between four and six people were killed in the first strike and 10 to 12 in the second. However Amnesty reported four to six of the dead were civilians, as yet the only source to report civilian casualties

In September 2012, Associated Press reported two US intelligence officials as saying that a Saudi man named Najam had lost both legs in a drone strike ‘at about the same time as al Libi died.’ According to the anonymous officials:

Najam, who came from an affluent family, was able to reach an agreement with the Saudi government to return to his wife and children. Intelligence suggests that Najam’s treatment has encouraged other militants to seek similar deals, switch to other battlefields or seek leniency from their governments.

The intensity of the US campaign led to claims by some that the US was carrying out punitive strikes. Islamabad called in the US charge d’affaires Richard Hoagland to formally complain about the strikes. He was told that ‘drone strikes represented a clear red-line for Pakistan.’ The Islamabad-based Conflict Monitoring Center, in its monthly report, accused the US of going on a ‘rampage’ in ‘a bid to punish Pakistan for the conviction of Dr. Afridi as well as its reluctance to reopen NATO supply routes.’ The CMC noted that prior to the NATO summit and Afridi’s conviction, only one US strike had taken place in May. Afterwards there were five, mainly aimed at ‘Taliban groups who are in a peace agreement with Pakistani authorities.’ An anonymous senior US official rejected this, claiming that the jump in CIA strikes was simply down to the weather. He told the New York Times that ‘Until now the area was socked in by a long stationary front with cloud cover.’ Less than a week after the strike messages were posted on al Qaeda websites suggesting that al-Libi remained alive.  The terrorist group also posted a video of al-Libi discussing recent events in Libya, with no references to his reported killing. However on the anniversary of 9/11 al Qaeda’s leader Ayman al Zawahiri finally confirmed al Libi’s death.