Al-Qaeda leader Abu Muhsin al-Masri killed in Afghanistan: Authorities

Afghan security claimed to have killed Abu Muhsin al-Masri, a senior al-Qaeda commander who was on the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s (FBI) Most Wanted Terrorist record, as per Afghanistan’s intelligence service.

Al-Masri, an Egyptian national contemplated to be al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, was shot during a special operation in the central Ghazni region, Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security (NDS) announced in a tweet.

Al-Masri, who also runs by the name Husam Abd-al-Ra’uf, has been accused in the United States with possessing provided material assistance and support to an international terrorist group and collusion to kill US inhabitants. The US circulated a warrant for his arrest in December 2018.

The head of the US National Counter-Terrorism Center, Chris Miller, affirmed al-Masri’s death in a declaration, announcing his “removal .. from the battleground is a significant impediment to a terrorist organization that is consistently undergoing decisive losses aided by the United States and its allies”.

Al Qaeda’s loss of al-Masri, Miller extended, “highlights the diminishing effectiveness of the terrorist group”.Last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced less than 200 al-Qaeda operatives remain in Afghanistan.

The death of al-Masri was declared on the same day that 18 people were killed in a suicide attack at an education institute in the Afghan capital, Kabul. At least 57 others were injured in the attack in the area that is residence to many from Afghanistan’s minority Shia population.

There was no direct claim of accountability for the attack and the Taliban rejected any link.

This month marks 19 years since the US penetrated Afghanistan to topple the Taliban rulers, who had cherished al-Qaeda fighters who infiltrated the United States on September 11, 2001.

The US has been steadily moving down its numbers from Afghanistan after hitting a landmark deal with the Taliban in February.

That agreement is set to see international troops depart from Afghanistan by May 2021 in exchange for counterterrorism guarantees from the Taliban, which allowed to accommodate a permanent ceasefire and a power-sharing formula with the Afghan government.