Pakistan’s military said Saturday that soldiers killed al-Qaeda’s chief of global operations during a raid in the country’s lawless tribal region, a man indicted in the U.S. over a plot to bomb New York’s subway system.
Adnan Shukrijumah was killed, along with two other suspected militants, in Pakistan’s North Waziristan tribal area early Saturday, the military said.
“The al-Qaeda leader, who was killed by the Pakistan army in a successful operation, is the same person who had been indicted in the United Stated,” said a senior Pakistani army officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to journalists.
Shukrijumah held a position that once was Sept. 11 mastermind Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. The FBI lists the Saudi as a “most wanted” terrorist and had offered up to a $5 million reward for his capture.
Federal prosecutors in the U.S. allege Shukrijumah had recruited the three men in 2008 to receive training in the lawless tribal region of Pakistan for the attack. The New York indictment links him to the Manhattan plot and a similar never-executed scheme to attack British subways.
