FACTBOX-Facts about al Qaeda's Abu Laith al-Libi

Wed Feb 6, 2008 4:36pm EST

Feb 6 (Reuters) - Al Qaeda's leader in Afghanistan vowed revenge on Wednesday for the killing of one of the group's top field commanders, Abu Laith al-Libi, in a suspected U.S. attack in Pakistan in January.

Following are key facts about Libi:



- A Libyan Islamist linked to the Fighting Islamic Group in Libya (FIGL), an organisation which announced its existence in 1995 vowing to overthrow Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

- In November 2007, al Qaeda's second in command, Ayman al-Zawahri, appeared in a video recording with a man he presented as Abu al-Laith who resembled Libi, announcing the merger of his group, the FIGL, into al Qaeda.

- In 2002, Libi was the first spokesman on behalf of al Qaeda to announce that Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar were alive after the U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan.

- U.S. media have said Libi was believed to be behind a suicide bombing in February 2007 that killed 23 people outside the main U.S. base in Afghanistan during a visit by U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney.

- In October 2007, American media announced the U.S. military in Afghanistan had named Libi as one of several "mid-level" al Qaeda and Taliban leaders being sought and said it was offering a $200,000 bounty for each.

- In January 2008, Libi was killed in a suspected U.S. missile strike that killed up to 13 foreign militants in Pakistan's North Waziristan border area.

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