Yesterday the Guardian provided a clue on how Bilal al Berjawi, the al Qaeda commander who was killed in a US drone strike on Jan. 21, may have been tracked:
"We've been looking for him for some time now," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal yesterday. The official would not comment on how Berjawi was traced, however.
The 27-year-old's wife is understood to have given birth to a child in a London hospital a few hours before the missile strike, prompting suspicions among relatives that his location had been pinpointed as a result of a telephone conversation between the couple.If true, it would be interesting to know if the Brits helped in gathering the signals intelligence. Additionally, the report has a few more details on Berjawi:
Berjawi grew up in west London, travelling to Somalia around three years ago. There were unconfirmed reports that he had been injured in a drone attack last June, after which his wife was said to have returned to the UK. He was stripped of his British citizenship under the 2006 Immigration, Asylum and Nationality Act using powers the Home Office has been deploying with increasing frequency since the last election.The Guardian goes on to say that family members claimed he is innocent and was not involved with al Qaeda. But our sources are 100 percent certain that Berjawi was a senior leader in both al Qaeda and Shabaab.
Berjawi is understood to have sought to appeal against the order, but lawyers representing his family were unable to take instructions from him amid concerns that any telephone contact could precipitate a drone attack.
"We've been looking for him for some time now," a US intelligence official told The Long War Journal yesterday. The official would not comment on how Berjawi was traced, however.
Read more: http://www.longwarjournal.org/threat-matrix/archives/2012/01/british_al_qaedashaabab_leader.php
Washington Time
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