Mattis makes Al Qaida strike a teachable moment: ‘Terrorists who defame Islam’ are not safe

by WorldTribune Staff, March 26, 2017

An Al Qaida operative responsible for several terror attacks was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan earlier this month, the Pentagon confirmed on March 25.

“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 James Mattis said in the statement.

Qari Yasin

The Pentagon said Yasin was responsible for the deaths of two American service members and was involved in a deadly attack on a bus carrying Sri Lanka’s cricket team in 2009.

In a statement, the Pentagon said the strike took place on March 19 in Paktika province and killed Yasin, “a well-known (Al Qaida) terrorist leader,” Reuters reported.

Yasin had ties to the Tehrik-e Taliban terrorist organization and had further plotted multiple terror attacks, the Pentagon said.

Also this month, an American missile strike killed Al Qaida deputy leader Abu al-Khayr al-Masri near the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib.

Al-Masri, whose real name was Abdullah Muhab Rajab Abdulrahman, was second-in-command to Ayman al-Zawahiri, and a member of the group’s governing body, the Shura Council.

In January, an American air strike killed another Al Qaida leader in northern Syria, Mohammad Habib Boussadoun al-Tunisi.

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