The leader of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent was killed in a joint U.S.-Afghan operation last month, Afghanistan’s intelligence agency confirmed on Tuesday, October 8.
Asim Umar, a Pakistani citizen was killed alongside with six other AQIS operatives, most of them Pakistanis in an air raids conducted in southern Helmand province, the National Directorate of Security said in a tweet that also showed a graphic photo asserting to be of Umar’s body.
The NDS added that Umar had been embedded in a Taliban compound, and added that among the six other AQIS members killed in the raid was another terror operative identified as Raihan, a courier for Al-Qaeda emir, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The United Nations has documented a sharp rise in civilian deaths from airstrikes last year, as Afghan and U.S. forces intensified the aerial bombardment of Taliban and Islamic State combatants.
