A US drone strike has killed a senior al-Qaeda leader in Pakistan's tribal region near the Afghan border, Pakistani intelligence officials say.
Sheik Khalid bin Abdel Rehman al-Hussainan, who was also known as Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti, was killed when missiles slammed into a house on Thursday near Mir Ali, one of the main towns in the North Waziristan tribal area, the officials said.
Al-Kuwaiti appeared in many videos released by al-Qaeda's media wing, Al-Sahab, and was presented as a religious scholar for the group.
Earlier this year, he replaced Abu Yahya al-Libi, al-Qaeda's second in command, who was killed in a US drone strike in North Waziristan in June, the intelligence officials said. Al-Libi was a key religious figure within al-Qaeda and also a prominent militant commander.
Al-Kuwaiti appeared to be a less prominent figure and was not part of the US State Department's list of most wanted terrorist suspects, as al-Libi had been.
Covert CIA drone strikes have killed a series of senior al-Qaeda and Taliban leaders in Pakistan's tribal region over the past few years. But the attacks are controversial because the secret nature of the program makes it difficult to determine how many civilians are being killed.
Pakistani officials often criticise the strikes as a violation of the country's sovereignty, which has helped make them extremely unpopular in the country.
Al-Kuwaiti's wife and daughter were wounded in Thursday's drone attack, according to the intelligence officials. His wife died a day later at a hospital in Miran Shah, another main town in North Waziristan.
Al-Kuwaiti was buried in Tappi village near Mir Ali on Friday, the officials said.
A Pakistani Taliban commander who frequently visits North Waziristan told the Associated Press that he met some Arab fighters on Saturday who were "very aggrieved."
The Arabs told him they lost a "big leader" in a drone strike, but would not reveal his name or his exact position in al-Qaeda.
Al-Qaeda's central leadership in Pakistan has been dealt a series of sharp blows in the past few years, including the US commando raid that killed Osama bin Laden in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad last year. A significant number of senior al-Qaeda leaders have also been killed in US drone attacks in the country.
Many analysts believe the biggest threat now comes from al-Qaeda franchises in places like Yemen and Somalia.
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