Strike kills al Qaida leader

A US counter-terrorism air strike in Afghanistan killed an al Qaida leader responsible for a deadly hotel attack in Islamabad in 2008 and the 2009attackona bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team, the Pentagon has said.

US officials said Qari Yasin was a senior terrorist figure from Balochistan, Pakistan, had ties to the group Tehrik- e Taliban and plotted multiple al Qaida terror attacks.

The air strike that led to his death was conducted on March 19 in Paktika province, Afghanistan.

Yasin plotted the September 20 2008, bombing at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad which killed dozens, officials said.

The victims included two American service members, air force major Rodolfo Rodriguez, of El Paso, Texas, and navy cryptologic technician

“It’s evidence terrorists will not escape justice”

Petty Officer Matthew O’Bryant, of Theodore, Alabama.

The bus attack in the Pakistani city of Lahore killed six policemen and two civilians and wounded six members of the cricket team.

US defence secretary Jim Mattis said: “The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice.”

The killing of Yasin in eastern Afghanistan lends credence to Pakistani claims that its militant enemies have found sanctuaries there.

The countries routinely charge each other with harbouring the other’s enemies.

Relations deteriorated earlier this year after a series of attacks in Pakistan which killed 125 led Islamabad to close its border with Afghanistan.