Drone strikes killed 11 out of Al Qaeda top 20 leaders in six months

Lahore, Feb. 4 (ANI): A Newsweek report has claimed that US led drone strikes have killed eleven out of Al Qaeda's top 20 commanders in Pakistan's Tribal Areas (FATA) during the last six months.

Citing an Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency statement, the Newsweek report further says Pakistan's intelligence services have started to help the Americans track and kill fugitive terrorists in a bid to revamp its global image.

The 15 billion dollar aid package coming Pakistan's way over the next 10 years could also be a reason for Islamabad facilitating attacks on Al Qaeda, the Daily Times quotes the Newsweek report, as saying.

The unmanned drone strikes have 'stunned' local Al Qaeda commanders.

"Al Qaeda's hideouts in Pakistan's tribal areas aren't quite as safe as they used to be. We are stunned by such precision," a local sub-commander was quoted by the Daily Times as saying.

He cites the example of a recent strike in North Waziristan that killed Al Qaeda commander Musataf Al Misri.

"The missile didn't just hit the right house; it scored a direct hit on the very room where Mustafa Al Misri and several other Qaeda operatives were holed up. It's as if someone had tossed a GPS device against the wall," he said.

Naqib Khan, a Taliban intelligence operative, told Newsweek some Qaeda fighters and their friends from Pakistan have been relocating to quieter places in eastern Afghanistan. (ANI)