Al-Qaeda says leader Yazid dead

Al-Qaeda has announced the death of Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, its number three leader and Osama bin Laden's one-time top money man, in what would be a major blow to the global terror network.

US monitoring groups said the death of Yazid, who was the leader of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan and its liaison with the Taliban for three years, was announced by the group in a message to jihadist websites on Monday.

"We have strong reason to believe that's true, and that (Yazid) was killed recently in Pakistan's tribal areas," a US official said. "In terms of counterterrorism, this would be a big victory."

Yazid, one of a number of Egyptians in the higher echelons of Al-Qaeda, was a founding member of the network and a former treasurer to bin Laden who was accused of channelling money to some of the September 11 hijackers.

Yazid, also known as Sheikh Said al-Masri, would be one of the top Al-Qaeda leaders to be killed since US President Barack Obama took office in January last year.