Al Qaeda leader killed by airstrike in Afghanistan, U.S. says
Reporting from Washington — The Defense Department says an airstrike in Afghanistan last month killed Al Qaeda’s top leader in the eastern part of the country.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook issued a written statement saying a precision strike conducted by the United States military on Oct. 23 in Kunar province killed Faruq Qatani.
Qatani was one of Al Qaeda’s “senior plotters of attacks against the United States,” Cook said.
Cook said U.S. officials were still working to determine whether a second strike on the same date killed its target, Bilal Utabi, another Al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan.
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