US says Farouq al-Qahtani, who had long-standing ties with Osama bin Laden, was killed in ‘precision strike’ in October

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The US military killed al-Qaida’s leader for northeastern Afghanistan in an air strike last month, in a major blow to the group as it seeks to re-establish safe havens in the country.



Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook described the assault that killed Farouq al-Qahtani as a “precision strike” and said it took place on October 23 in Kunar, east of the capital, Kabul.

“This successful strike is another example of US operations to degrade international terrorist networks and target terrorist leaders who seek to attack the US homeland, our interests and our allies abroad,” Cook said in a statement.

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He said another al-Qaida leader in the country, Bilal al-Utabi, was targeted in a separate strike, though the results of that attack were not yet known.

Last month, US official said multiple missiles had levelled two compounds in Kunar where the men were believed to be hiding.

One US official said the attack represented the most significant strike against the al-Qaida leadership in Afghanistan in years.

The Pentagon has been actively hunting for Qahtani for four years. He had long-standing ties with Osama bin Laden before his death in 2011 in a US raid on his compound in Pakistan.

Qahtani has operated in Afghanistan since at least 2009 and led an al-Qaida battalion since at least mid-2010.

His deputy Utabi was seen as the second- or third-most senior al-Qaida leader in Afghanistan.