Pentagon: Two Top Al-Qaeda Leaders Targeted In Strikes In Afghanistan

The United States has carried out drone strikes in eastern Kunar province of Afghanistan on Sunday targeting two of al Qaeda’s top leaders, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The U.S. military is still assessing the results of the strikes against the two leaders who were targeted at command-and-control locations in remote areas of Kunar province, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.

One of the targets was Faruq al-Qatani, who served as al Qaeda’s leader for northeastern Afghanistan and had been assigned by the group’s leadership to re-establish safe havens in the country, Cook said in the statement.

“He was a senior planner for attacks against the United States, and has a long history of directing deadly attacks against U.S. forces and our coalition allies,” Cook said.

Al-Qatani, also known as Al-Nayf Salam Muhammad Ujaym al-Hababi, was named a “Specially Designated Global Terrorist” by the U.S. Treasury Department earlier this year for his role in al Qaeda.

The other, Bilal al-Utabi, was involved in “efforts to re-establish a safe haven in Afghanistan from which to threaten the West, and in efforts to recruit and train foreign fighters,” Cook added.

Reuters citing a U.S. official said the United States had been looking for al-Qatani as the No.1 Al-Qaeda official in Afghanistan for four years

“If these strikes are determined to be successful, eliminating these core leaders of al Qaeda will disrupt efforts to plot against the United States and our allies and partners around the world, reduce the threat to our Afghan partners, and assist their efforts to deny al Qaeda safe haven in Afghanistan,” Cook said in his statement.