An Al Qaeda figure killed in a U.S. airstrike in Pakistan last week is believed to have been an Algerian allegedly involved in training militants and plotting attacks against the West, officials said Friday.The Algerian, known by the nickname Abu Sulayman Jazairi, apparently died May 14 in the strike that killed as many as 14 people and destroyed a compound near the village of Damadola, an Al Qaeda stronghold in northwestern Pakistan, officials said. A knowledgeable U.S. official and a senior European anti-terrorism official said Jazairi was thought to be dead.
U.S. anti-terrorism forces are targeting front-line planners in Pakistani hide-outs, and Jazairi would be another in a series of recent losses for the Al Qaeda leadership, the two officials said. "He was a significant person within the Al Qaeda ranks," said the senior European official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic. "Not in the top five, but he's up there. The suspicion is he was one of those individuals involved in training and targeting Western interests. There is uncorroborated intelligence that he was involved in plots against Europe."
Officials declined to discuss last week's operation because of political tension in Pakistan over U.S. airstrikes. The strength of Al Qaeda and the Taliban movement in the lawless tribal areas makes it difficult to independently confirm information there.
In fact, some doubt lingers about the identity of the man killed. This week, a senior Pakistani intelligence official said he believed the slain man was not the Algerian but another foreign militant. Despite the confusion, the U.S. and European officials said their information about the militant's identity seemed solid. "There are good reasons to think that Al Jazairi is dead," said the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the matter publicly. The European official said there recently had been allusions to Jazairi's death on radical websites.
Jazairi was an explosives expert and "important terrorist trainer," the U.S. official said. "When it comes to training, this individual was an important figure," the official said. "People like him are vital to terrorist plots. That doesn't mean he can't be replaced. But when Al Qaeda loses someone with his experience, it matters."