Afghanistan: 'High-profile' Al-Qaeda leader Qari Yasin killed in U.S. airstrike

New York [U.S.], Mar. 26 (ANI): The U.S. Department of Defense has confirmed that a well-known Al-Qaeda terrorist leader, responsible for several attacks in Pakistan, was killed in a U.S. counter-terrorism airstrike conducted in Paktika Province, Afghanistan. The slain terrorist, Qari Yasin, was responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocent victims, including two American service members, the Pentagon said in a statement. "Yasin, a senior terrorist figure from Balochistan, Pakistan, had ties to Tehrik-e Taliban and had plotted multiple al Qaida terror attacks, including the Sept. 20, 2008, bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens of innocent people, among them U.S. Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez and Navy Cryptologic Technician Third Class Petty Officer Matthew J. O'Bryant," the statement added. Yasin was also responsible for the 2009 attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, in which six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed and six members of the team injured. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis further noted in the statement that the death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who "defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice." (ANI)