U.S. airstrike kills senior al Qaeda commander in Afghanistan
The United States has killed a high-ranking al Qaeda commander in an airstrike in Afghanistan, a military statement said Friday.
Abu
Kahlil al-Sudani was killed during the attack in Paktika, a
southeastern Afghan province that borders Pakistan, on July 11, the U.S.
statement said.
"This operation
underscores the work that ... all of our forces in Afghanistan do each
day to take the fight to al Qaeda," U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter
said during a stop in Iraq. "We will continue to counter violent
extremism in the region and around the world."
Al-Sudani
was the head of al Qaeda's suicide and explosive operations and has
been directly linked to plans for external attacks against the United
States, according to the U.S. military statement.