Badruddin Haqqani believed dead in drone strike

Pakistan

Badruddin Haqqani believed dead in drone strike

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US Intelligence officials are attempting to confirm Badruddins death.

25 August,2012 12:08 pm

US officials believe that Badruddin Haqqani, one of the top leaders of the al Qaeda-linked Haqqani Network, may have been killed in a recent US drone strike in North Waziristan.Senior US officials told The New York Times that they had strong indications that Badruddin Haqqani, the operation commander of Haqqani network, was killed in a drone strike this week.Intelligence officials are attempting to confirm that Badruddin was indeed killed.Thought to be in his mid-30s, Mr. Haqqani runs the Haqqani network’s day-to-day militant operations, handles high-profile kidnappings and manages its lucrative smuggling operations, according to a recent report by the Combating Terrorism Center, an independent, privately financed research and educational institution at West Point.He is considered second in seniority to the Haqqani network’s leader, his older brother Sirajuddin Haqqani.In August 2011, Afghan intelligence released intercepts of Badruddin Haqqani directing a daring assault on Kabul’s Intercontinental Hotel; three years before that he held a reporter for The New York Times, David Rohde, hostage.According to US officials, Badruddin’s death would be a major benefit to the military coalition in Afghanistan.