US drone strike likely kills Pakistan’s Al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri

A US drone strike likely killed Pakistan's Al-Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri, in what appear to be another major blow to the network a month after Osama bin Laden's death.

The 47-year-old is one of the most feared operational commanders of the network that Osama bin Laden founded and has been blamed for a string of high-profile attacks on Western targets, as well as in India and Pakistan.

A Pakistani television station quoted the group Kashmiri headed, Harkat-ul Jihad Islami (HUJI) which is allied to al Qaeda, as saying the report was true. "God willing ... America will very soon see our full revenge. Our only target is America," Abu Hanzla Kashir, who identified himself as a HUJI spokesman, said in a statement faxed to the station.

According to an intelligence official, Kashmiri and other militants were with an Afghan Taliban member involved in liaison with the Pakistani Taliban when the drone missile struck.