Al-Qaeda leader ‘killed by US drone’ in Afghanistan

An al-Qaeda leader beliebed to be responsible for a 2008 hotel bombing in Islamabad and the deadly attack on a bus carrying Sri Lanka’s cricket team in 2009 has been killed by a US air strike, the Pentagon claimed.

The drone attack on Qari Yasin, “a well-known terrorist leader” with ties to the Tehreek-e-Taliban, also known as the Pakistan Taliban, took place on 19 March in the Paktika province, the Pentagon said.

“The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice,” U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a statement.

It said that Yasin was responsible for “multiple terror attacks”, including the 2008 suicide truck bombing on the Mariott hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan, which killed dozens of people including two American service members.

On Sunday, Pakistani security sources and Islamist militants said that a U.S. drone air strike in Afghanistan had killed Yasin, also known as Ustad Aslam.

Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Department had offered a bounty of 2 million rupees ($19,000) for Yasin, saying he was involved in the 2009 bus attack in the northeastern city of Lahore, allegedly organized by militant group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi.

The attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team bus led to Pakistan's exclusion from the role of hosting major international tours. At least 10 gunmen fired on the bus with rifles, grenades and rockets, wounding six players and a British coach, and killing eight Pakistanis.

Since then, Pakistan has been forced to play most of its “home” games in the United Arab Emirates.