The United States confirmed a CIA drone strike had killed Al-Qaeda number two, Abu Yahya al-Libi.

The United States confirmed a CIA drone strike had killed Al-Qaeda number two, Abu Yahya al-Libi.

A US official told AFP on Tuesday that Washington had a "high degree of confidence" that Libi was killed in a pre-dawn strike in Pakistan's tribal areas on Monday, part of a intense spate of assaults in the region against the terror group.

"It is significant," the official said, arguing that Libi was in charge of Al-Qaeda operations in Pakistan and outreach to affiliates such as Yemen-based Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

Libi was killed in a pre-dawn strike Monday in North Waziristan, a Taliban and Al-Qaeda stronghold along the Afghan border. He was a Libyan citizen with a $1 million price on his head.
A trusted lieutenant of bin Laden, Libi appeared in countless Al-Qaeda videos and was considered the chief architect of its global propaganda machine.

The US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that al-Libi had served as the group's "general manager" and had overseen day-to-day operations in Pakistani tribal areas.

News of the killing of Libi followed reports detailing the scope of the US campaign against global terrorism, including revelations that President Barack Obama personally presides over a "kill list" of top suspects.

Libi's death will also bolster Obama's credentials as a “steely commander-in-chief” as he seeks to repel claims of weakness abroad leveled by his Republican opponent in November's election Mitt Romney.

But it may once again worsen tenuous US ties with nominal anti-terror ally Pakistan, brought almost to the point of rupture by drone strikes, the US raid that killed bin Laden last year and the Pakistani refusal to reopen NATO supply lines into Afghanistan.