Did a U.S. drone strike really kill Ilyas Kashmiri?

The statement was then posted on the Shamukh al Islam forum, a website frequented by jihadists close to al Qaeda, along with an image purported to be that of Kashmiri’s face after his death.

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But it has been discovered that the photograph, said to depict the slain Kashmiri, is in fact that of Abu Dera Ismael Khan, a Lashkar-e-Taiba fighter who was one of the members of the suicide assault team that attacked Mumbai, India, in November 2008. Also, the original statement released by HUJI contained misspellings of the terror group’s name, Arif Rafiq, the Editor of The Pakistan Policy Blog, told The Long War Journal…

Another US intelligence official said that it is possible the reports of Kashmiri’s death may be a part of a “denial and deception” campaign by al Qaeda and HUJI intended to through the US off the scent of Kashmiri. Al Qaeda, the Taliban, and allied terror groups have not used martyrdom statements to fake the death of senior leaders in the past, the intelligence official said. Several local Taliban leaders, including Mullah Nazir’s spokesman, another HUJI leader named Qari Mohammad Idrees, and the Political Agent for South Waziristan all claimed Kashmiri was killed, as have unnamed Pakistani intelligence officials.

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