Strike Kill a Top Qaeda Leader Mustafa Abu al-Yazid
US intelligence agencies believe al-Qaeda’s third most senior leader was killed recently in a missile strike in the tribal areas of Pakistan.
Mr Yazid also known as Sheikh Said al-Masri died along with his wife and three children as per Islamist websites quoting a statement from al-Qaeda.
Al-Masri was the group’s chief operating officer, with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning,’ a US official said. He is believed to have been jailed in Egypt in 1982 in connection with the assassination of Egypt’s then-President Anwar Sadat.
Mr Yazid’s last public statement was released on 4 May, eulogising the two top al-Qaeda leaders in Iraq – Abu Omar al-Baghdadi and Abu Ayub al-Masri – who were killed in April. 54-year-old al-Masri was on the list of individuals, organisations and charities whose assets were frozen by the US Treasury in the wake of the 11 September attacks on the US in 2001.