Al-Qaeda Leader, bin Laden Confidant, Believed Killed in Pakistan

An Egyptian believed to be the No. 3 man in al-Qaeda has apparently been killed in Pakistan's tribal region by a CIA drone strike.

Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, know as Sheik Saeed al-Masri, was said to be "key to al-Qaeda's command and control," the top operating officer and chief conduit to Osama bin Laden, according to an unnamed U.S. official quoted by the Washington Post. Word of Yazid's demise came from an al Qaeda statement that U.S. officials take to be accurate, the Post said.

Yazid, 54, was the commander for Afghanistan and a founding member of the terrorist network. He once served time in
an Egyptian prison with al-Qaeda's No. 2 commander, Ayman al-Zawahiri, for conspiracy in the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat. The 9/11 Commission said Yazid opposed the Sept. 11 attacks because he was worried about U.S. reprisals, yet stayed loyal to bin Laden.

Previous reports of his death turned out to be incorrect. But a U.S. official said of the latest report, "In terms of level of confidence, it's very high." No details about the drone strike were immediately available. And the Obama administration did not comment on the report.