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Key al-Qaida figure killed in Afghanistan, NATO says

A NATO airstrike earlier this month killed a key al-Qaida operative in Afghanistan — a regional commander in charge of suicide bombings and cash flow.
/ Source: msnbc.com news services

A NATO airstrike earlier this month killed a key al-Qaida operative in Afghanistan — a regional commander in charge of suicide bombings and cash flow, the international military coalition said Tuesday.

NATO identified the man killed in the April 13 airstrike in Dangam district of eastern Kunar province as Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani. The alliance said the strike also killed a number of other insurgents, including another al-Qaida leader known as Waqas.

"Abdul Ghani was responsible for the coordination of numerous high-profile attacks. On the morning of his death, he reportedly directed the suicide attack that killed tribal elder Malik Zarin and nine other Afghan civilians," an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) statement said.

After running terrorist operations against the Saudi government, Ghani fled to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border where he served as a liaison between the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban as well as a leader of insurgent operations, officials told NBC News.

Officials did not say whether Ghani was killed by a Predator strike or by a U.S. warplane, but did tell NBC News he was targeted.

"It was kinetic and it was not serendipitous," said one official.

Ghani was the highest ranking al Qaida official killed in Afghanistan "in a long time," officials said.

"We were able to deprive al-Qaida of a significant operator," the official added.

Al-Najdi, a Saudi citizen, directed al-Qaida operations in Kunar and traveled regularly between Afghanistan and Pakistan to coordinate with associates across the border, NATO said. He coordinated suicide bombing attacks as well as kidnappings and oversaw the transfer of money from Pakistan to cells in Afghanistan.

NATO said it had been chasing al-Najdi since 2007 and finally pinpointed him while he was meeting with Waqas.

News of his death came a day after hundreds of insurgents tunneled their way out of a high-security jail in southern Kandahar, triggering an extensive manhunt and tightening of security along the Pakistan border.

Farther south in Paktia province, meanwhile, the provincial governor narrowly escaped an apparent assassination attempt by insurgents. A roadside bomb exploded just behind a vehicle taking Gov. Juma Khan Hamdard to his office, said Rohallah Samon, a spokesman for the governor.

Hamdard was not hurt, but three policemen who were in a chase vehicle were slightly injured, Samon said.

Insurgents in the country are under stepped up pressure from NATO-led troops and a growing Afghan army ahead of the start this summer of a transfer of security responsibilities from foreign to Afghan forces.

An ISAF spokesman would not name the coalition's top insurgent target for fear of hampering their search, but alliance commanders have previously claimed there are only 50 to 100 al-Qaida fighters still active in Afghanistan.

The withdrawal of U.S. forces from the Korengal and Pech river valleys in Kunar in late 2009 has created more space for al-Qaida and the Taliban to expand their operations in the region, security website The Long War Journal said.