Page 10 - ATD09APRIL2016
P. 10
A10
WORLD NEWSSaturday 9 April 2016
Senior al-Qaida figure killed
in Syria by US drone strikes
Spokesman of Saudi-led coalition Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri talks during an interview with the As- BASSEM MROUE
sociated Press in Cairo, Egypt, Friday, April 8, 2016. Associated Press
BEIRUT (AP) — A senior Egyptian al-Qaida figure fight-
(AP Photo/Amr Nabil) ing in Syria was killed in a U.S. drone strike this week,
the latest to be killed in such attacks in Syria, a Syrian
Spokesman: opposition monitoring group and relatives said Friday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights
Saudi-led force will commit to Yemen truce said Rifai Ahmad Taha was killed in a strike Tuesday in
the northwestern Idlib province.
MAGGIE MICHAEL to the restoration of the the year-long conflict has Before joining al-Qaida, Taha was a top figure in Egypt’s
Associated Press internationally-recognized killed about 9,000 people, notorious militant group Gamaa Islamiya, which mas-
CAIRO (AP) — The Saudi- government, we will take,” including more than 3,000 sacred 58 foreign tourists in the ancient Egyptian city of
led coalition behind a al-Asiri added, speaking in civilians. Rights groups Luxor in 1997. He was also allied with Osama bin Laden
year-long military cam- the Egyptian capital, Cairo. have blamed the airstrikes in Afghanistan.
paign against Yemen’s Shi- The Iran-backed reb- for most of the deaths. On The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said sev-
ite rebels is ready to com- els have been negotiat- Thursday, Human Rights eral al-Qaida members, including Taha, were killed in
mit to a cease-fire as long ing with the Saudis in past Watch issued a report de- Tuesday’s strike. He said one of the dead was identified
as the rebels abide by a weeks on prisoner swaps tailing a recent deadly air- as Abu Omar al-Masri — which is Arabic for Abu Omar
U.N. Security Council reso- and a halt of fighting along strike that killed 119 people the Egyptian — but that it was not clear if Taha was us-
lution that calls for their the Yemeni-Saudi border. in a market in Hajja prov- ing that name. Taha was believed to be in his 60s.
pullout from Yemeni cities, Yemen’s conflict pits Hadi’s ince, saying U.S.-made In Egypt, a relative said that Taha’s wife and brother
the alliance’s spokesman internationally-recognized bombs were used in the have received confirmation about his death. The rela-
said Friday. government, backed by airstrikes. tive spoke on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals.
Brig. Gen. Ahmed al-Asiri the Saudi-led coalition, Al-Asiri described the report In Washington, Department of Defense spokesman
told The Associated Press against the Houthis, allied as “misleading,” insisting Matthew Allen said the U.S. struck a vehicle killing sev-
that the Yemeni rebels with a former Yemeni presi- the alliance only targets eral al-Qaida militants. He added that officials are still
known as Houthis should dent. Houthis, who in turn use assessing the strike.
“show commitment” to the The Houthis took over their civilians as cover. He also “I can confirm that the US struck a vehicle killing sev-
upcoming April 18 peace country’s capital, Sanaa, in claimed the United Nations eral AQ militants,” said Allen, using an acronym to refer
talks that could yield a September 2014, and the is depending on flawed re- to al-Qaida. “The results of this strike are still being as-
political settlement. The coalition, which is backed ports, mostly obtained from sessed.”
rebels must also recognize by the United States, be- Houthis since the world On Wednesday, Syria’s al-Qaida branch known as the
the government of Yeme- gan airstrikes against them body has no staffers on the Nusra Front confirmed the death of Abu Firas al-Souri,
ni President Abed-Rabbo in March 2015. ground. a senior figure in the group, in a U.S. airstrike that also
Mansour Hadi and hand So far, al-Asiri said the co- “I challenge the United took place in Idlib province. Al-Souri was killed on Sun-
over their heavy weapons, alition has managed to roll Nations agencies to show day, the group said.
he said. back Houthi gains in 85 per- they have people on the Taha’s relative said dozens of members of Islamic
If talks fail, al-Asiri said the cent of Yemen’s territory, ground” in Yemen, he said. groups were paying condolences Friday to the fam-
military option remains on something others dispute Yemen’s a-Qaida branch ily at the home of his brother, Gharib, in the southern
the table. since the rebels still control and other Islamic militants Egyptian village of Nagaa Dunqal. According to the
“The two tracks are paral- most of the northern cities have exploited the chaos relative, Taha had told his family he believes he is be-
lel: the political and the mil- and Sanaa. of the war to increase their ing followed and just three days before his death he
itary. Whatever way leads The United Nations says footholds. called his brother from Syria to tell him that the Ameri-
cans are monitoring his movements.
Taha was jailed in 2001 in Egypt under the rule of then-
President Hosni Mubarak after being detained in Syria
and handed over to Cairo. He was released after the
long-serving leader was removed from power in 2011.
Before that he spent nearly three decades outside
Egypt, including stints in Afghanistan and Sudan where
bin Laden lived, and was also in Pakistan.
Taha was also involved in plotting the assassination
attempt against Mubarak during a visit to Ethiopia in
1995. The former Egyptian president was not harmed
when his convoy was hit with bullets.
In the early 1980s Taha, spent five years in jail after the
1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat
by Muslim extremists.
