Mustafa Abu al-Yazid AKA Saeed al-Masri [2], operational leader for al-Qaeda [3] in Afghanistan [4], was apparently killed in a US drone strike [5] at the village of Boya near Miranshah, North Waziristan, in Pakistan [4]'s tribal areas. A Qaeda statement, viewed as accurate by US officials, says the death was within the last two weeks. Al-Yazid, an Egyptian, was a founder of al-Qaeda and considered by US intelligence to be the organization's No. 3 leader, behind Osama bin Laden [6] and Ayman al-Zawahiri [7]. Yazid is thought to have inherited the number three post after his predecessor, Abu Ubaidah al-Masri [8], died of hepatitis in Pakistan. "His death will only be a severe curse...upon the infidels," al-Qaeda supposedly said in a statement issued to jihadist websites and translated by the SITE Intelligence Group [9]. (The Independent [10], June 1; NYT [11], May 31)
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