US says airstrike killed al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan
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WASHINGTON -- The Defense Department says an airstrike in Afghanistan last month killed al-Qaida's top leader in the eastern part of the country.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook has issued a written statement saying a precision strike conducted by the US military on Oct. 23 in Kunar, Afghanistan, killed Faruq al-Qatani.
Cook says al-Qatani was one of al-Qaida's "senior plotters of attacks against the United States."
Cook says US officials are still working to determine whether a second strike on the same date killed its target, Bilal al-Utabi, another al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan.
