US drones killed 50 militants of al-Qaeda’s Indian branch

About 50 militants of al-Qaeda’s Indian branch, including two senior leaders, have been killed in US drone strikes over the past few months, the outfit said on Sunday.

The al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) says a series of drone attacks have killed nearly 50 of its members, including deputy head Ustad Ahmad Farooq and Qari Imran, the group’s central council member and in charge of al-Qaeda in Afghanistan.

They were killed in separate US drone attacks in North Waziristan in January, AQIS spokesperson Usama Mehmood said in an audio message.

The audio was emailed to the media today.

Al-Qaeda launched AQIS in September last year under the leadership of Pakistani Maulvi Muhammad Asim, who has studied in Karachi and is the author of several Islamic books.

“Mujahideen al-Qaeda had been the main target of the drone strikes since the security forces have launched military operation in North Waziristan in June last year. Taliban also came under attack but the real target was al-Qaeda,” the Express Tribune quoted the AQIS spokesperson as saying.

Mehmood said several senior al-Qaeda leaders and members were killed in the strikes, adding the Americans specifically focused on the group and 10 out of 11 drones hit AQIS.