Two Al Qaeda leaders killed in US air strike

kabul — Afghanistan’s spy agency on Thursday confirmed that two top Al Qaeda leaders in the country were killed in a drone attack, in a significant blow to the militant group.

“Faruq Al Qahtani, Bilal Al Utabi and a third member of the group were killed in a coalition strike in... Kunar province,” the National Directorate of Security said in a statement. “The strike was carried out in coordination with NDS.”

“We are still assessing the results of the strikes, but their demise would represent a significant blow to the terrorist group’s presence in Afghanistan, which remains committed to facilitating attacks against the United States, our allies, and partners,” said Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook.

Another US official said the attack represented the “most significant air strikes were conducted by US warplanes

so far this year strike” against the Al Qaeda leadership in Afghanistan in years.

The Pentagon has been actively hunting for Qahtani for four years. He had longstanding ties with Osama bin Laden before his death in the 2011 US raid on his Pakistan compound.

Qahtani has operated in Afghanistan since at least 2009 and led a Qaeda battalion since at least mid-2010, officials said.

“He was seeking to reestablish (Al Qaeda’s) control in Afghanistan,” the US official said. —

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AP US Deputy Secretary of State Antony Blinken, his Japanese and S. Korean counterparts Shinsuke Sugiyama and Lim Sung-nam, join hands before their meeting in Tokyo. —