Pakistani forces kill top al-Qaida leader in Waziristan

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan army said that airstrikes killed top al-Qaeda leader, Adnan el Shukrijuma, in South Waziristan tribal region on Saturday.

An army statement said that Shukrijuma's accomplice and local facilitator were also killed while five terrorists were nabbed during the early morning raid.

The army chief General Raheel Sharif appreciated the troops who killed the al-Qaeda leader, saying security forces will "chase and eliminate all the terrorists from the soil and none will be spared. "

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) identified Shukrijuma as a Saudi national, accusing him of conspiracy to use weapons of mass destruction and to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization.

The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to five million U.S. dollars for information leading directly to the capture of Shukrijuma.

"In an intelligence-borne operation, the al-Qaeda leader Adnan el Shukrijuma was killed by Pakistan Army in an early morning raid in Shinwarsak, South Waziristan today," the statement from Pakistan army's Inter-Services Public Relations said.

The army said Shukrijuma had moved to South Waziristan recently from North Waziristan Agency due to the ongoing major military operation there and was hiding in a local compound.

Pakistani forces launched the offensive code-named "Zarb-e-Azb" in June to clear the area of the Pakistani Taliban and al-Qaeda remnants. The army said forces have killed over 1,200 local and foreign militants and destroyed hundreds of their hideouts.

The army statement said Shukrijuma was a member of the core al- Qaeda leadership and was in charge of all external operations of al-Qaeda. During the raid, a Pakistani soldier was also killed and one was critically injured.

The FBI website says Shukrijuma was indicted in the Eastern District of New York in July 2010 for his alleged role in a terrorist plot to attack targets in the United States and Britain.