A U.S. air strike in Afghanistan has killed a high-ranking al Qaeda operational commander, the U.S. military said on Friday, according to Reuters. The U.S. military named the target of the strike as Abu Khalil al-Sudani, saying he was killed in a July 11 strike in the Bermal district of Afghanistan's Paktika province. In a statement, it said he was head of al Qaeda "suicide and explosives operations" and was linked to plots to attack U.S. targets. Sudani directed attacks against U.S.-led coalition forces in Afghanistan as well as against Afghan and Pakistani forces, it said. The strike in Paktika was the latest in a series of U.S. counter-terrorism strikes in Afghanistan in recent weeks and also killed two other militants, the military told reporters travelling with Defense Secretary Ash Carter in Erbil, Iraq.
