A Big One Bites the Dust

Al Qaeda # 3 Killed

"Osama bin Laden and Ayman al Zawahiri are the spiritual founders, and considered No. 1 and No. 2 of al Qaeda list, but Shaikh Sa’id is considered the link between those two and rest of the operation, and for all intents and purposes the one running the organization day to day.

"Al-Masri was the group's chief operating officer,” the official said, “with a hand in everything from finances to operational planning. He was also the organization's prime conduit to Bin Ladin and Zawahiri. He was key to al-Qaeda's command and control.”"

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"The official said Shaikh Sa’id's "death would be a major blow to al-Qaeda, which in December lost both its internal and external operations chiefs." (A reference to the killings of Abdullah Said and Saleh al-Somali, respectively.)

"Though these terrorists remain extremely dangerous and determined to strike at the United States, the removal from the battlefield of top leaders like al-Masri is further proof that the tribal areas are not quite the safe haven al-Qaeda and its allies thought them to be," the official said."