Al Qaeda’s No. 2 leader reportedly killed

Atiyah Abd al-Rahman, the second in command of al Qaeda, has been killed in Pakistan, a senior Obama administration official told The Associated Press.

The National Counterterrorism Center describes al-Rahman as a Libyan national who had served as Osama bin Laden’s emissary in Iran. He first met bin Laden in the 1980s in Afghanistan.

{mosads}Al-Rahman became the second in command of al Qaeda when U.S. Navy SEALs killed bin Laden in May in Pakistan.

Ayman al-Zawahiri, who had been second to bin Laden, has been in charge of the terrorist organization since.

The AP reports that the U.S. official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence operations, said al-Rahman was killed Aug. 22 in the Pakistani tribal region of Waziristan.