Al-Qaeda commander killed in US airstrike in Paktia

A US air strike in Paktia province of Afghanistan killed a senior Al-Qaeda commander in charge of suicide bombing and two other militants, the Pentagon said Friday.

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter said that the airstrike killed a senior Al-Qaida operational commander, Abu Khalil Al-Sudani on July 11.

Pentagon says Abu Khalil al-Sudani was directly linked to plotting attacks against the United States and also commanded operations against troops in Afghanistan.

“We will continue to counter violent extremism in the region and around the world, including efforts to deliver a lasting defeat to ISIL,” Mr. Carter said, in a reference to the Islamic State, the Sunni militant group that holds territory in Iraq and Syria.

The strike in Paktika was the latest in a series of U.S. counter-terrorism strikes in Afghanistan in recent weeks and also killed two other militants.

A U.S. military official in Kabul said that Al-Sudani had also been close to Osama bin Laden before his death, and had fought alongside bin Laden in the 10-year anti-Soviet war that followed the invasion of Afghanistan in 1979.

The official spoke on the condition that he not be identified because he was not authorized to provide the information.

“The death of al-Sudani will further degrade Al-Qaeda command-and-control operations across the globe,” he said.

Al-Sudani’s death is the latest in a string of successful US airstrikes against al-Qaeda figures in the Middle East.