KABUL -- A senior al-Qaeda commander linked to major attacks in Pakistan including the bombing of a luxury hotel and an assault on a cricket team has been killed in a drone strike in Afghanistan, AFP reported Saturday (March 25).
Qari Yasin, who also has ties to Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), was killed on March 19 in Paktika Province, the US Department of Defense said.
Yasin, who went by several aliases including Ustad Aslam, was accused of plotting the September 20, 2008, bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens of people.
He was also said to have been behind a March 2009 attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore that killed six Pakistani police officers and two civilians and wounded six members of the team.
