KABUL -- A US strike against a senior al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan in October killed two senior operatives, the Pentagon said Monday (December 19).
The Defence Department had already announced the death of Farouq al-Qahtani, al-Qaeda's emir for northeastern Afghanistan, who was killed in the October 23 drone strike in Kunar Province.
On Monday (December 19), Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook confirmed that the strike also killed Bilal al-Utabi, Qahtani's deputy, as well as Abd al-Wahid al-Junabi, described as "a senior al-Qaeda explosives expert".
"All three were actively involved in carrying out and plotting terror attacks inside and outside Afghanistan," Cook said.
Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security had already confirmed Utabi's death.
The Pentagon had been actively hunting Qahtani for four years.
He had long-standing ties with Osama bin Laden before his death.
