Interior Minister Rehman Malik has confirmed that top al Qaeda commander Ilyas Kashmiri had been killed in a US drone strike, Aaj News said. Kashmiri was the chief of the Harkatul Jihad al-Islami, a group affiliated with al Qaeda, and its offshoot 313 Brigade, which is believed responsible for PNS Mehran attack in Karachi on May 22.
He was also alleged to be the mastermind behind an attack on the US consulate that killed four people in 2006. Kashmiri was appointed to head al Qaeda's operations in the sub-continent on May 10, when the shura met to confirm a replacement for Osama bin Laden who was killed in a US special forces' raid in Abbottabad.