NATO said Wednesday it has confirmed that a senior Al Qaeda commander who led attacks along the Pakistan border and several other militants were killed in an air strike over the weekend in the eastern Afghanistan.
NATO said the strike killed Abdallah Umar al-Qurayshi, a senior Al Qaeda commander who coordinated the attacks of a group of the Arab fighters in eastern Kunar province, which borders Pakistan, and elsewhere.
It said Abu Atta al Kuwaiti, an Al Qaeda explosives expert, and several Arab foreign fighters were also killed in the strike, which was carried out Saturday.
Pakistan is investigating reports a CIA missile strike killed another senior Al Qaeda commander as he traveled in a tribal region near the Afghan border, security officials said Wednesday. Sheikh Fateh al-Masri's death would be the covert U.S. missile program's latest blow to Usama bin Laden's terrorist network.
Al-Masri is believed to have replaced Mustafa al-Yazid, who was killed in a missile strike in May and was described by the group as its No. 3 commander.
The United States is believed to have launched 21 missiles into northwestern Pakistan this month, more than double the number fired in any previous month. Some of the strikes were aimed at disrupting suspected terrorist plots aimed at Europe, a Western counterterrorism official said Tuesday.
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