According to the Afghanistan intelligence service, NDS, the Afghan troops have killed a senior Al-Qaeda leader. The building block of the terrorist group, Abu Muhsin Al-Masri had landed himself a spot on the FBI’s (Federal Bureau of Investigation) Most Wanted Terrorist list.
Al-Masri went by another name- Husam Abd-al-Ra’uf and had an Egyptian nationality. Sources allege he was the second-in-command for Al-Qaeda and its activities. The hit list man was shot to death in a special operation launched by the Afghanistan security cops in central Ghazni.
The National Directorate of Security (NDS) disclosed the news through a tweet on Saturday night.
Al-Masri, who is now dead, was held responsible by the US for furnishing material and other required resources to terrorist groups functioning abroad, along with plotting murder plans for US nationals. As such, the United States had filed cases against him and issued a warrant necessitating his arrest in December 2018.
Confirming the Al-Qaeda leader death, the head of the US National Counter-Terrorism Centre released a statement terming the man’s death as a “major setback” to the terrorist organization, which continues to suffer major losses “facilitated by the United States and its partners”.
Chris Miller further said Al-Masri’s death also highlights the terrorist group’s fading existence and effects in the world.
In an interview held in September, Mike Pompeo, the US Secretary of State, said less than 200 Al-Qaeda workers are left in Afghanistan.
The news of the death of Al-Masri was declared on the same day when the country witnessed a suicide bomb going off, killing at least 24 people until now. The blast took place outside an education centre in West Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.
According to the Interior Ministry spokesman, Tariq Arian, the suicide bomber blew up his explosives after he was stopped at the entrance of the centre by the security guards for the routine checking.
The area of the bombing houses many people of the Shia community of Afghanistan. No organization immediately claimed the responsibility of the blast with the Taliban to refusing to have played any part.
The United States had first attacked Afghanistan in 2001 to fight the Taliban after the 21st September’s attack of Al-Qaeda workers on the US. Taliban had apparently sheltered and helped Al-Qaeda in going ahead with their blast in the US.
However, after landing on a deal with the Taliban, the US has been withdrawing its army personnel from Afghanistan. The deal of February requires foreign troops to go out of Afghanistan by the end of May 2021, in return for the Taliban’s counterterrorism.
Despite the ongoing peace talks between the Afghan government and Taliban, episodes of attacks haven’t been stopped. A local official reported the death of nine people due to a roadside bomb. Moreover, two policemen got killed after another bomb exploded while they were going to help the civilians of the previous blast.
