Militant leader seen as al-Qaida's No 2 in Afghanistan
Abu Yahya al-Libi, a senior figure in the al-Qaida organisation, has been killed at the age of around 49 by a missile fired from a drone over north Waziristan, near Pakistan's western border, US officials have said. Many militants are located in the region, and one of the messages circulating on internet forums used by Islamic extremists summed up the significance of the event: "Pray for the brothers in Waziristan. It is a difficult time."
Libi's real name was Mohamed Hassan Qaid, and though a well-known militant, he was not one of the best-known or most capable extremists associated with al-Qaida. That he could be described as the group's deputy leader when he died is evidence of how shallow its reserves of talent have become after years of attrition.
Libi was born in Marzaq, in Libya's deep south. He became involved in Islamist activism as a student at the university in Sabha in the early 1980s. The decade would see Islamism replace socialism as the major ideology and channel for dissent in much of the Arab world.
Like thousands of others, Libi travelled to Afghanistan to take part in the US and Saudi-backed jihad against the Soviet occupation. He was more a scholar than a warrior, and it is unclear to what degree he was exposed to combat.
When Moscow withdrew its forces in 1988-89, few of the international volunteers who had been fighting there could return home. Libi spent the early 1990s moving between African states, pursuing religious studies in Mauritania and then basing himself in Sudan.
Though Osama bin Laden was in Khartoum, the Sudanese capital, at roughly the same time, the two men were not associates. A plethora of militant groups were based in or around the city. Libi was linked to the Libyan Islamic Fighting Group (LIFG) through family members. Like other north African groups, it rejected any link with al-Qaida.
However, like Bin Laden, Libi moved to Afghanistan when, from around 1996, militant groups were no longer welcome in Sudan. His activities there are unclear, but it is possible that he gave religious instruction to volunteers in one of the training camp-cum-hostels run by the LIFG, or assisted as a cleric on one of the various frontlines in the civil war.
In December 2001, Libi was forced to flee Afghanistan as the Taliban regime collapsed under attack from America and its allies. He was picked up after some months on the run in Pakistan and incarcerated by the Americans at Bagram airport, north of Kabul.
After three years' captivity, Libi managed to escape, becoming an instant celebrity in the world of militants. Shortly after regaining his freedom, he is believed to have sworn the bayat, the personal oath of fealty, to Bin Laden.
Younger than Bin Laden, Libi was projected as a relatively youthful face for the increasingly elderly command of the battered organisation and made numerous appearances in its propaganda videos. His firebrand rhetorical style was apparently seen as effective, backed by the kudos of his escape.
Libi's other duties within al-Qaida were less clear. His lack of military experience – though he appears to have become more involved in operations in recent years – appeared to disqualify him from the more senior organisational positions. However, the sheer number of senior and middle-ranking militants killed in 2011 and 2012 meant that he climbed the ranks – or at least through the chaos of the organisation's shattered hierarchy. His opinions on difficult questions such as the justification of civilian casualties appear to have been taken seriously.
Bin Laden himself was killed in May 2011. Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, another Libyan, had been acting as his chief of staff and then effective deputy to Ayman al-Zawahiri, Bin Laden's successor. When he was killed in a drone strike in August 2011, Libi appears to have taken on some of his duties. He also continued to appear in propaganda videos.
• Abu Yahya al-Libi (Mohamed Hassan Qaid), terrorist leader, born 1963; died 4 June 2012