Pentagon: US air strike kills senior al Qaeda leader in Afghanistan

A US counterterrorism airstrike earlier this month in Afghanistan killed Qari Yasin, an al-Qaida leader from Baluchistan who had plotted numerous attacks, the Pentagon confirmed. The airstrike that led to his death was conducted March 19 in Paktika Province. Yasin plotted the September bombing on Marriott Hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens, including two American service members, Air Force Maj. Rodolfo I. Rodriguez and Navy Cryptologist Technician 3rd Class Petty Officer Matthew J. O’Bryant; as well as the bus attack in the Pakistani city of Lahore that killed six Pakistani policemen and two civilians and wounded six members of the cricket team.