Ilyas Kashmiri's (likely) death: A bigger deal than bin Laden's?

U.S. officials are nearly sure a drone strike killed one of Pakistan's most-wanted jihadists. Just how badly would this cripple terrorists?

Lead global terrorist and "high value target," Ilyas Kashmiri, pictured in 2001, was likely killed Friday by a drone attack in Pakistan.
(Image credit: REUTERS/Mian Kursheed)

A U.S. drone likely killed Pakistani-born terrorist Ilyas Kashmiri on Friday. (His al Qaeda-afiliated group, Harkat Jihad al-Islami, has confirmed Kashmiri's "martyrdom," but U.S. officials still haven't verified the death.) His demise would end the long career of a militant who appeared near the top of most-wanted lists in the U.S., Pakistan, and India — someone who was busily planning big attacks, including, reportedly, the 2008 massacre in Mumbai, while Osama bin Laden was holed up in his compound. Does that make Kashmiri's death a bigger deal than bin Laden's?

Kashmiri's death will have a bigger impact: It's hard to overstate what a "huge success" this is, if true, says Robert Chesney at Lawfare. Kashmiri's death might well "have a greater short-term operational significance than the far-more-widely noted killing" of bin Laden. And since Pakistan is obviously happy to see Kashmiri killed, this strike might even soothe ruffled feathers in Pakistan over the bin Laden raid.

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