Abu Nasar becomes new al Qaeda leader of Gulf region

Peshawar, Feb 23 (ANI): Abu Nasar Al-Haweshi from Yemen has been nominated as al-Qaeda's leader for the Gulf Region.

Belonging to Yemen, Abu Nasar Al-Haweshi, also known as Abu Baseer, is active in al-Qaeda since long.

The Nation quoted highly placed reliable sources as saying that Abu Nasar's nomination aimed at filling the office, which had fallen vacant after the death of Abu Zarqavi in Iraq in 2006.

According to sources, there was no replacement of Zarqavi since his death. Now both Osama bin Laden and Aymaan Al Zawahiri agreed on assigning the task to Abu Nasar Al Haweshi.

The assignments of Abu Nasar, beside engineering and plotting, include collection of donation for war from the Gulf region and facilitating the militants in getting training from border areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Abu Nasar was considered fifth amongst leading al Qaeda commanders like Abu Laith Al Laibi, Abu Zarqavi, Abdullah Kurd and Abdul Hadi.

Both Abdul Hadi and Abu Zarqavi were killed in Iraq, Abu Laith Al Laibi in North Waziristan and Abdullah Kurd in Qandahar Afghanistan.

Abu Nasar remained in Duranta training camps during Taliban regime in Afghanistan, the paper reported.

He also fought against the Northern Alliance, headed by late Ahmad Shah Mesud in Takhar, Hirat and Bagram regions. He had served Osama bin Laden as his security chief for a couple of months.

During his stay in Afghanistan, Abu Nasar remained very close to both former ministers Maulvi Jalaluddin Haqqani and Mullah Mohammad Hassan Akhund. (ANI)