**
Amir Mir- Islam Abad
Laith Al Libi, the Libyan al-Commander had been living in Pakistan for almost three years now and, despite a $ 200,000 FBI bounty on his head, had been freely visiting Peshawar and Quetta as well. He was actually masterminding suicide bombings in Afghanistan and found a confortable refuge in the border region of Waziristan. Although Pakistani intelligence officials believe the January 30th killing of al-Qaeda’s No. 3 in an American Predator drone strike would adversely affect the spring offensive of the Taliban against NATO troops in Afghanistan, there are many in the Pakistani establishment who are still unsure about Libi’s death. They point out the fact that neither the American nor the Pakistani authorities have confirmed his death and the only confirmatin came from al-Qaeda’s website which might be a ploy to mislead the international hunters into believing that he has actually been kille.