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Al Qaeda's "Military Brain" Taken Down

By Marcella Glenn

"The U.S. has confirmed that Ilyas Kashmiri was killed on Friday," Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani at a Monday press conference in Quetta.

A spokesman for Kashmiri's jihadist group, Harakat-ul-Jihad-Islami, previously shared Kashmiri was killed with some aides, in a strike late Friday night.

Kashmiri's death is a major kill or capture since Osama bin Laden.

Some see this as an embarrassment for Pakistanis who have twice in just over one month had a major al Qaeda figure killed on their territory without their participation.

Kashmiri, veteran jihadist, was considered one of the most dangerous men in the world by counter-terrorism officials on three continents.

He was commander of "Brigade 313" of Harakat-ul-Jihad-Islami, which formed a close relationship with al Qaeda.

Kashmiri was believed to have ties with David Coleman Headley, the United States citizen who confessed to helping scout targets for the Mumbai attack in November 2008.

Gilani gave no explanation as to how he knew the United States had confirmed the death of the man described by counter-terrorism officials as al Qaeda's "military brain."

Marcella Glenn is a freelance writer, blogger, novelist, and former business editor. She looks forward to hearing from you. Scribble a note to her through NewsBlaze, or her blog at critiqueandwrite.blogspot.com