“Al-Qaeda’s No. 2 leader, Abu Yahya al-Libi, the charismatic commander who helped steer the terrorist group after Osama bin Laden’s death last year, was killed by a CIA drone strike in Pakistan’s lawless frontier region, U.S. officials confirmed Tuesday,” reports the Washington Post. “U.S. intelligence officials said the death of the Libyan jihadist, who escaped from U.S. custody in Afghanistan in 2005, leaves al-Qaeda’s leadership ranks in Pakistan so depleted that there is no obvious successor. Libi, the second al-Qaeda deputy commander to be killed in 10 months, was targeted in a drone strike early Monday on a house in North Waziristan, U.S. officials said. Despite reports from Pakistan that more than a dozen people died, U.S. officials said Libi was the only one killed. A U.S. official described Libi as one of al-Qaeda’s “most experienced and versatile leaders.” His death was viewed as a particularly heavy loss for al-Qaeda because of his standing as both a spiritual figure and operational manager for a terrorist organization that has been struggling since bin Laden’s death at the hands of Navy SEALs last year….”