Leader killed in US drone attack, confirms Al Qaeda

Islamabad, Nov 21: Global terrorist organisation Al Qaeda's branch in the Indian sub-continent on Thursday confirmed the death of one of its leaders, Adil Qudoos in a US drone attack.

Qudoos was alleged to have helped senior al-Qaeda leader, Khalid Sheikh Muhammad, Xinhua reported.

Kahlid was arrested in 2003 from the house of Ahmad Qudoos, the brother of Adil Qudoos, in the Pakistani city of Rawalpindi.

The US had accused Kahlid of mass murder and he was identified as "the principal architect of the 9/11 (terrorist) attacks" by the 9/11 Commission report.

The 9/11 attacks refer to the terrorist attacks on the US, led by the Al Qaeda, on September 11, 2001, in which hijacked passenger aircrafts were used for suicide attacks on major buildings in the US.

Nearly 3,000 people lost their lives in those attacks.

Adil Qudoos was a major in the Pakistan army and was awarded a six-year sentence by a military court, after his arrest in the northwestern Pakistani city of Kohat in March 2003.

He had joined the Al Qaeda since his release in 2008 and moved to the North Waziristan tribal region along with his family members.

The Al Qaeda sub-continent spokesman, Usama Mehmood, confirmed the death of Adil, his brother-in-law Sarbuland Khan and his two sons, Uzair and Suleman, aged 13 and 15 in the drone attack along the Pakistan-Afghan border on Nov 9.

Sarbuland, known among the militants as Abu Khalid, had also run an hospital in North Waziristan to treat the injured militants.

"When the American forces failed to arrest them during clashes, the foreign troops sought air support and the drone struck their locations," the Al Qaeda spokesman said in a statement.

"The Americans are claiming to be the champions of children rights, but their drone targeted children," he said.

IANS