NATO: Al Qaeda #2 in Afghanistan killed

Pakistan Muthidda Shehri Mahaz activists burn the U.S. flag during a protest in Multan on May 23, 2012, against U.S. drone attacks. / GettyImages

(AP) KABUL, Afghanistan - The U.S.-led NATO force in Afghanistan killed al Qaeda's second-highest leader in the country in an airstrike in eastern Kunar province, the coalition said Tuesday.

Sakhr al-Taifi, also known as Mushtaq and Nasim, was responsible for commanding foreign insurgents in Afghanistan and directing attacks against NATO and Afghan forces, the alliance said. He frequently traveled between Afghanistan and Pakistan, carrying out commands from senior al Qaeda leadership and ferrying in weapons and fighters.

The airstrike that killed al-Taifi and another al Qaeda militant took place Sunday in Kunar's Watahpur district, the coalition said. A follow-on assessment of the area determined that no civilians were harmed, it said.

The coalition declined to reveal the name of al Qaeda's top leader in Afghanistan "due to ongoing operations and security concerns."

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The U.S.-led invasion of Afghanistan was carried out because al Qaeda chief Osama bin Laden used the country as his base to plan the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks in New York and Washington.

Most of al Qaeda's senior leaders are now believed to be based in Pakistan, where they fled following the U.S. invasion. The terrorist organization is believed to have only a nominal presence in Afghanistan.

Many senior al Qaeda commanders have died in U.S. drone attacks in Pakistan's northwest tribal region, and bin Laden was killed by U.S. commandos in the Pakistani town of Abbottabad last May.

Bin Laden advised al Qaeda militants to leave Pakistan's North and South Waziristan tribal areas because of the threat of drone attacks, according to letters seized from the compound where he was killed. The documents were later released by the U.S.

In one of the letters, bin Laden recommended they go to Afghanistan's Kunar province because of "its rougher terrain; too many mountains, rivers, and trees that can accommodate hundreds of brothers without being spotted by the enemy," according to the Combating Terrorism Center at West Point, which published the documents.

Elsewhere in Afghanistan, two would-be suicide bombers riding in a vehicle packed with explosives in eastern Nangarhar province were killed when the vehicle exploded prematurely, said a local government official, Shakrulla. Three others in the vehicle were severely wounded. The explosion occurred on the main highway between Jalalabad city and Torkham, a town on the Pakistani border.

[decotoguy]

I love this American Suicidal Mission called AFGHANISTAN,and all the bush-shi* that is fed to the American people.
Bizarre beyond belief Americans are in a TRANCE.
The Practitioners of Deception are convincing the American people that Terrorism is to be fought by Terrorism.
The casualties of these WARS are the GOOD Americans
being replaced by the ULGY Americans.
Everyday I witness America slowly fall into a third world country.

[slownewsday_6000]

Perhaps we shouldn't have trained and armed Al Qaeda in the first place.

Yet we wonder how we end up in places like this.

[venusvegasvada]

Boom!

[bobnjersey]

[two would-be suicide bombers riding in a vehicle packed with explosives in eastern Nangarhar province were killed when the vehicle exploded prematurely]
----------------------------------------------
or maybe it was god's will.

allahu akbar.

[imnho]

almost as soon as they appoint a number two he gets to get up close and personnel with a drone. Now if they can get the new number one

[slownewsday_6000]

I love these occasional headlines which may or may not be true to try to justify an amorphous "war on terror".

It's just an excuse to expand our residence in the region. Not just occupation, just permanent residence. Why? To feed the military/industrial complex.

Just as Eisenhower warned.

[slownewsday_6000]

"Hey, guys! We got one! Can we have another $500 billion?"

[nancy_naive]

Whenever they kill someone, he's an Al Qaeda #2.

Just once, wouldn't be nice that they publish of list of Al Qaeda, so we can see that he's #2 BEFORE he gets killed?

[jonnyooh]

I understand that Mon Sewer al- Zawahiri raped a nanny goat and had a billy-human. He plans to name it Osama.

[euge005]

Possibly one of those 15 minute marriages they have with children.

[VictorAshesLoveChild]

Make sure you read to the end:
"Elsewhere in Afghanistan, two would-be suicide bombers riding in a vehicle packed with explosives in eastern Nangarhar province were killed when the vehicle exploded prematurely, said a local government official"
And their last words were, "DON'T TOUCH THAT, YOU STUPID..."

[baileycccc]

Another scum bag taken off the streets. This is a good thing.