WASHINGTON (Pajhwok): The US has confirmed the killing of Qari Yasin, a top Al Qaeda leader responsible for several high profile terrorist attacks in Pakistan, the Pentagon said in a statement on Sunday.
"The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice," the US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a statement.
The airstrike was conducted in the Paktika province on March 19. He was responsible for deaths of dozens of innocent victims, including two American service members.
“Yasin, a senior terrorist figure from Balochistan, Pakistan, had ties to Tehrik-e Taliban and had plotted multiple al Qaida terror attacks, including the Sept. 20, 2008, bombing on the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens of innocent people, among them U.S. Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez and Navy Cryptologic Technician Third Class Petty Officer Matthew J. O’Bryant,” the Pentagon said.
“Yasin was also responsible for the 2009 attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore. Six Pakistani policemen and two civilians were killed and six members of the team injured,” the Pentagon said.
According to Lon War Journal, Yasin was listed by the Pakistani government as the 10th Most Wanted terrorist in the country in 2013.
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