Senior al-Qaida leader Husam Abd-Al Rauf — referred here as Mohsin al Masri — seems to have been killed by Afghan intelligence in Ghazni province. He had been in the region for a while including Waziristan circa 2005-2014 and there was no news of his targeting or leaving Af-Pak.
https://twitter.com/tolonews/status/1320043294752124929
I speculated in (footnote of) @MiddleEastInst report that Rauf might still be in Afghanistan: mei.edu/publications/a…. He was on FBI wanted list: fbi.gov/wanted/wanted_…. He was a feature in al-Qaida media; as early as 05, wrote in Vanguards of Khorasan & released video in 2019.
Too bad he wasn’t captured alive — that could have provided more visibility into al-Qaida’s presence in and strategy for the region, and status of Zawahiri. Maybe they have picked up other documents etc from site of the raid?
The location of district Andar in Ghazni province is interesting. It is a bordering district to Paktika, where al-Qaida and AQIS are said to be present alongside the TTP. So roughly the area I’d expect an al-Qaida central leader to be.
I am curious if the Afghan Taliban react to Rauf’s killing? And the TTP? Also, if al-Qaida issues eulogy? It hasn’t for last two major leaders killed in the region: Hamza bin Laden and Asim Umar.
There has been some back and forth by NDS on what actually happened, so I am open to the possibility that this is wrong. Lets see.
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