Al-Qaeda confirms killing of Qari Imran, Ahmad Farooq

ISLAMABAD: The al-Qaeda Indian branch has confirmed that a series of US drone strikes have killed its nearly 50 members, including two senior leaders.
Ustad Ahmad Farooq, deputy head of al-Qaeda for the Sub-Continent, and Qari Imran, the group’s central council member and in-charge of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, were killed in separate US drone attacks in North Waziristan in January, the AQIS spokesman Usama Mehmood said in an audio message. The audio was emailed to the media on Sunday.
Al-Qaeda launched the AQIS in September last year under the leadership of a Pakistani militant Maulvi Muhammad Asim.The spokesman, speaking in Urdu language, said the al-Qaeda Indian branch fighters had been the main target of the drone strikes since security forces had launched a military operation in North Waziristan in June last year.
He confirmed these drone attacks had killed around 50 al-Qaeda members and a similar number of their local supporters over the past few months and that 10 out of 11 drones hit the Indian branch’s fighters.
The deputy leader, Ustad Ahmad Farooq, was killed in the Shawal area of North Waziristan in an American drone attack on January 15 after he was surrounded by American, Pakistan and Afghan ground forces.
Ustad Ahmad Farooq belonged to Islamabad and had received Islamic education in the International Islamic University, Islamabad. His real name was Raja Muhammad Salman.Ustad Qari Imran was killed along with six members in the Lwara area of North Waziristan on January 5. He was the in-charge of al-Qaeda for Afghanistan.
Qari Imran, whose real name was Qari Ubaidullah, belonged to Multan and had been associated with militant groups for 20 years and fought in Afghanistan, Tajikistan, Kashmir and Pakistan.