Al-Qaeda chief confirms deputy killed

The al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri confirmed in a 9/11 anniversary video that the group's second in command was killed in drone strike earlier this year.

Zawahiri, who took over as emir of the group after Osama bin Laden was killed by US Navy Seals last year, announced the death of Abu Yahya al-Libi in a 42-minute video posted on Jihadi internet forums on Monday.

"I proudly announce to the Muslim umma and to the Mujahideen... the news of the martyrdom of the lion of Libya Sheikh Hassan Mohammed Qaed," Zawahiri, said, referring to Libi by his birth name, rather than his nom de guerre.

Libi escaped from an American prison in Afghanistan in 2005 and had been wrongly proclaimed dead at least once before.

The US government said in June it had killed Libi in Pakistan The death of the group's chief propagandist was interpreted as the biggest blow to al-Qaeda since the raid that killed bin Laden.