The Many Deaths of Ilyas Kashmiri

By Jeralyn, Section War on Terror
Posted on Sat Jun 04, 2011 at 12:00:50 PM EST
Tags: Ilyas Kashmiri (all tags)

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In 2009, the media reported the death of terrorist leader Ilyas Kashmiri in a drone strike. It was very upsetting to David Coleman Headley, who had been plotting with Kashmiri to conduct the Mumbai attacks and the planned attack on a Danish newspaper. The death report on Kashmiri turned out not to be true, and according to the U.S., which has indicted Kashmiri in the Headley/Rana case, Headley continued plotting with Kashmiri, LeT, and Major Iqbal.

Now Kashmiri is reportedly killed again, also in a drone strike, this time in Pakistan yesterday that occurred as he and his fellow terrorists were sipping tea in an apple garden.

A U.S. official says Kashmiri was the target of the drone attack but could not confirm his death. A local militant commander, Baitullah, says he wasn't killed. But HJI is reportedly confirming his death. [More...]

According to Headley and others, Ilyas Kashmiri had become al Qaeda's Number 3 leader in Pakistan. Kashmiri, was also the leader of the 313 Brigade.

In court pleadings, Tahawwur Rana said LeT withdrew from the Denmark plot in March, 2009, and it was taken over by Ilyas Kashmiri. The Government argued that LeT was involved with both the Mumbai and Denmark attacks.

Asia Times journalist Syed Saleem Shazad, whose tortured body was found last week in Pakistan, interviewed Kashmiri after his first reported death in 2009. Kashmiri spoke to Shazad about his plans for attacks on the U.S. "and its proxies." You can read the interview here.

Shazad, in his just-relased book on al Qaeda, says Kashmiri "hijacked" the Mumbai and Danish attack plan from LeT.

Kashmiri reportedly turned the plan over to Major Haroon As