Attack that killed human shields was aimed at al Qaeda

NBC News:

U.S. special operations forces were targeting the leader of al-Qaida in Afghanistan — one of the organization's top commanders — when they launched an attack against a compound that killed seven children Sunday in Paktika province of eastern Afghanistan, U.S. officials tell NBC News.

According to several officials, and contrary to previous statements, the U.S. military knew there were children at the compound but considered the target of such high value it was worth the risk of potential collateral damage.

Those same officials tell NBC News the target of Sunday's attack was Abu Laith al Libi, the al-Qaida commander in Afghanistan and a top lieutenant of Osama bin Laden. The sources report that although six sets of remains besides those of the seven children were recovered, it's not clear whether Abu Laith is among those killed.

Abu Laith, a physically imposing 40-year-old Libyan, is an outspoken leader of al-Qaida, appearing in videos and on the Internet. An October 2006 Defense Intelligence Agency analysis describes him this way: “Speaks Arabic with a Maghreb/Moroccan dialect; scars on back as if beaten by a belt or wire; senior Al Qaeda commander; expert in guerrilla warfare.”

Abu Laith is also believed to wear a dental bridge that could help in identifying him.

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In some U.S. intelligence analyses, he is viewed as one of the organization's top commanders, ranking in the top five.

Military officials say special operations forces relied on a relatively new weapons system to carry out the attack — High Mobility Artillery Rockets, or HIMARS. The rockets are fired high into the atmosphere from launchers on the ground. Then, on the way down, they are guided to the target by either GPS or lasers. The officials say as many of five of these HIMARS were used in the attack on the compound. It was the same weapons system used recently in the killing of Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban’s military commander. The rockets are now used as a complement to the Predator drones that have killed more than a dozen al-Qaida leaders since Sept 11, 2001.

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Roger Cressey, former deputy director of counterterrorism at the National Security Council and another NBC News analyst, said killing Abu Laith would be a major strategic victory, adding to “serious leadership losses al-Qaida and the Taliban have suffered recently.”

“In the aggregate, this will impact their ability to maintain command and control and eliminate experienced battlefield leadership,” Cressey said.

I think Cressey is right. Al Qaeda's use of human shields is one of its major war crimes and even this story does not focus enough on al Qaeda's egregious behavior in this regard. The story does not indicate whether Abu Laith was killed in the attack. If you go to the NBC News link above there is a video of Abu Laith that al Qaeda provided some time ago.