KABUL: Senior al-Qaeda leader Abu Muhsin al-Masri, who was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Most Wanted Terrorists list, has been killed, Afghanistan’s intelligence service reported.
Al-Masri, an Egyptian national believed to be al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, was killed during a special operation carried out by Afghan security forces in the central Ghazni province, Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) said in a tweet late on Saturday.
Breaking news : as a result of NDS special force unit operation in ghazni province an al-Qaida key member for Indian sub contanint, Abu Muhsen Almisry were killed pic.twitter.com/4fmWzA5T4e
— NDS Afghanistan (@NDSAfghanistan) October 24, 2020
Al-Masri alias Husam Abd-al-Ra’uf has been charged in the United States with having provided material support and resources to a foreign terrorist organization, and conspiracy to kill US nationals. The US issued a warrant for his arrest in December 2018.
The death of the al-Qaeda operative was announced on the same day that 18 people were killed in a suicide bombing at an education center in the Afghan capital, Kabul.
At least 57 others were wounded in the attack in the area that is home to many from Afghanistan’s minority Shia community.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack and the Taliban denied any link.
This month marks 19 years since the US invaded Afghanistan to topple the Taliban rulers, who had harbored al-Qaeda fighters who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001.
The US has been gradually drawing down its troops from Afghanistan after striking a landmark deal with the Taliban in February.
That deal is set to see foreign forces leave Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which agreed to negotiate a permanent ceasefire and a power-sharing formula with the Afghan government.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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