The Coalition confirmed that an al Qaeda-linked Taliban commander who was responsible for a recent suicide attack that killed three US soldiers and a USAID officer in Kunar was himself killed three days ago in an airstrike in the province.
Yasir, an “al Qaeda associated Taliban leader,” was one of “several” insurgents killed in an airstrike in the Watahpur district on Aug. 17, the International Security Assistance Force announced in a press release. He was an Afghan citizen, ISAF told The Long War Journal.
“Yasir organized and conducted attacks against Afghan and coalition forces and was involved in the Aug. 8 suicide attack in Asadabad district, which killed three US soldiers and a US civilian,” ISAF stated.
The Aug. 8 suicide attack killed the command sergeant major for the 4th Brigade, 4th Infantry Division (the brigade’s senior enlisted soldier), two majors on the brigade staff, and a USAID foreign service officer. The suicide bomber attacked the brigade staff as they were attending a security meeting in Asadabad.
ISAF launched a second airstrike in Kunar just one day after Yasir was killed. In the second attack, in the Watahpur district, special operations forces called in an airstrike after identifying “several insurgents,” ISAF stated. The airstrike killed “many of them.” ISAF did not provide the affiliation of the “insurgents” who were targeted. According to Pajhwok Afghan News, “four Pakistanis, two Arabs, and a regional Taliban commander” known as Nasar were killed in the Aug. 18 strike in Watahpur.
The Watahpur district in Kunar has emerged as an important hub for al Qaeda and allied terror groups, such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba. Since the end of May, five senior al Qaeda leaders and two Lashkar-e-Taiba leaders have been killed in airstrikes in Watahpur [for more information on Watahpur and Kunar, see LWJ report, ISAF kills Taliban district governor, ‘dozens’ of fighters in Kunar airstrikes].
4 Comments
The world is a safer place today for the deaths of these terrorists/insurgents. My sympathy and prayers go to the families and friends of the U. S. soldiers and civilians killed in the August 8 atrocity.
I’m increasingly concerned about the unwillingness of the political leadership in the U. S. to pursue serious action against terrorists in other theaters, particularly in light of the recent increase in murderous attacks by Boko Haram, a militant Islamist sect in northern Nigeria. Boko Haram is known to coordinate training, money, and explosives with al Shabaab and with al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb. These are the three most murderous groups in North Africa, and they recruit North Africans for training in Yemen and subsequent terror attacks on U. S. citizens on U. S. soil.
Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was sentenced to life in prison Thursday, Feb. 16, 2012, for trying to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with a bomb in his underwear on Christmas 2009. This “Underwear Bomber” passed from Boko Haram to al-Qaida on the Arabian Peninsula before boarding in Amsterdam a plane flying to Detroit. The Obama administration is particularly remiss in failing to react to this event with direct lethal attacks on the leadership of Boko Haram.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/jun/26/africa-islamist-militants-coordinating-threat
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/christmas-day-underwear-bomber-gets-life-in-prison/?corder=asc
Its funny that senior officers and enlisted personnel has to DIE before NATO get serious and start KILLING these Taliban rats in large numbers. The bombing in the Kunar province that KILLED over 50 Taliban rats wouldn’t have happened if an IED blown 8 privates, sergeants, and a lieutenant into smithereens. ISAF has be ability to ERADICATE the Taliban in a single sweep, but current Marine General running the show is WEAK and Pathetic, so troops keep on DYING.
Hey. Is Rico right? I remember when we lost the helicopter with all those members of seal team six to an RPG, about three days later it was said the RPG shooter was identified and killed.
GIT SOME!!!