Pentagon Reports the Death of Two Senior Al-Qaeda Commanders in Afghanistan

The U.S. Department of Defense, the Pentagon, announced on Wednesday that two senior commanders of Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan were targeted in an airstrike. According to Reuters, Peter Cook, Pentagon spokesman, stated in a statement that after monitoring these two senior Al-Qaeda commanders, they were targeted in a remote area of Kunar province. The spokesman identified one of them as Farooq Qatani, the Al-Qaeda emir in northeastern Afghanistan, and said that Farooq Qatani had been tasked with establishing safe havens for Al-Qaeda in Afghanistan. Peter Cook also identified the second individual as Bilal Al-Mutaybi, stating that Bilal Al-Mutaybi was involved in efforts to establish safe havens and also in recruiting and training forces to threaten the West. The Pentagon spokesman did not provide further details on how the two senior Al-Qaeda commanders were killed. However, two U.S. officials, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that the two were killed in an airstrike. Peter Cook emphasized that if it is determined that such attacks have been successful, it would deal a serious blow to the group's efforts to plan attacks against the U.S. and other countries around the world.