A former Pakistani army officer convicted for sheltering 9/11 mastermind, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, was killed in a US drone strike in the country’s north-western border region, officials said on Friday.
Major Adil Abdul Qadus was killed on November 11 in Datta Khel town in the North Waziristan tribal region near the Afghan border, two military officials who requested anonymity told DPA.
Qadus was fired from the Pakistani army after the 2003 arrest of Mohammed from his family house in Rawalpindi city near the capital Islamabad. His brother, Ahmed Abdul Qadus, was also arrested with Mohammed.
Major Qadus served a five-year jail term after his conviction for “willfully” sheltering terrorists in a trial conducted by a military court, but joined al-Qaeda in the border region after release. He was recently associated with al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), a new branch established by the terror group’s chief, Ayman al-Zawahiri, this year.
AQIS spokesman, Usama Mahmoud, said on Twitter that Qadus was among two leaders from the group killed in a November 11 drone attack. The other man was identified as Dr. Sarbaland, also known as Abu Khalid. He was a doctor and used to treat injured militants.
Sarbaland’s two sons aged 13 and 15 were also killed.
Also on Friday, suspected US drones killed nine Islamist militants in North Waziristan in two separate strikes targeting ethnic Uzbek and Arab fighters, officials said.
Also, Egypt has indefinitely shut schools in two border towns in Northern Sinai as the army prepares to intensify a battle with Islamist militants that turned the daily trip to lessons into a “journey of death”.
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