al Qaeda leader killed in Afghan airstrike

The al Qaeda leader believed responsible for the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Pakistan in 2009 has been killed in a US air strike.

The Pentagon says the US has killed the al Qaeda leader believed responsible for the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team eight years ago.

A US counterterrorism air strike on March 19 in Afghanistan killed Qari Yasin, US officials said.

Yasin was also responsible for a deadly hotel attack in Islamabad in 2008, the Pentagon said on Saturday.

Yasin was a senior terrorist figure from Balochistan, Pakistan, had ties to the group Tehrik-e Taliban and had plotted multiple al Qaueda terror attacks. The airstrike that killed him was conducted in Afghanistan's Paktika Province.

The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus in Lahore killed six Pakistani policemen and two civilians and wounded six cricketers.

The team bus was part of a larger convoy that was fired upon by 12 gunmen, near the Gaddafi Stadium on March 3, 2009.

The cricketers were on their way to play the third day of the second Test against Pakistan.

Yasin also plotted the September 20, 2008, bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens, officials said. The victims included two American service members.

Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said in the statement: "The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice."


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Source: AAP



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