Islamabad: A spokesman for al-Qaida's new Indian branch says US drone strikes in Pakistan have killed two of its leaders.In an audio message released Sunday, Usama Mahmood identified the dead as deputy chief Ahmed Farooq and Qari Imran, in charge of the group's Afghan affairs.
Mahmood says a Jan. 5 drone strike in North Waziristan killed Imran, while a later drone strike killed Farooq.Al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahri announced creation of al-Qaida in the Indian Subcontinent in September.
The terror group increasingly finds itself overshadowed internationally by the Islamic State group, which holds a third of Iraq and Syria in its self-declared caliphate.___Associated Press writers Ishtiaq Mahsud in Dera Ismail Khan, Pakistan, and Rasool Dawar in Peshawar, Pakistan, contributed to this report.
