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Reports that senior alQaeda official Abu Muhsin al-Masri killed by Afghan forces
[PUBLISH.TWITTER]

The Jerusalem Post adds:
Masri was killed during a special operation in Ghazni province in eastern Afghanistan, said the NDS, adding that he was the supreme leader of the organization in the Indian subcontinent.

The al Qaeda operative was an Egyptian national, according to the FBI.

Last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said fewer than 200 al Qaeda operatives remain in Afghanistan.
Update from Fox News at noon ET:
The Afghan raid happened last week in Kunsaf, a village in Ghazni province's Andar district some 150 kilometers (90 miles) southwest of Kabul, two government officials said.

Amanullah Kamrani, the deputy head of Ghazni's provincial council, told The News Agency that Dare Not be Named that Afghan special forces led by the intelligence agency raided Kunsaf, which he described as being under Taliban
...Arabic for students...
 control. On the village's outskirts, they stormed an isolated home and killed seven suspected holy warriors in a firefight, including al-Rauf, Kamrani said.

Neither Kamrani nor the intelligence agency offered details on how authorities identified al-Rauf, nor how they came to suspect he was in the village.

Wahidullah Jumazada, a front man for the provincial governor in Ghazni, said Afghan forces killed six suspected holy warriors in the raid, without acknowledging al-Rauf had been killed.

Kamrani alleged, without providing evidence, that the Taliban had been offering shelter and protection to al-Rauf. The Taliban told the AP on Sunday they are investigating the incident.

If the Taliban had provided protection for al-Rauf, it would violate the terms of its Feb. 29 deal with the U.S. that jump-started the Afghan peace talks. That deal saw the Taliban agree "not to cooperate with groups or individuals threatening the security of the United States and its allies," which includes Al Qaeda.

Federal prosecutors in the southern district of New York filed a warrant for al-Rauf's arrest in December 2018, accusing him of providing support to a foreign terrorist organization and being part of a conspiracy to kill U.S. citizens. The FBI put him on the bureau's "Most Wanted Terrorists" list, which now includes 27 others.

The red-headed al-Rauf, believed to be born in 1958, is an Egyptian national. An Al Qaeda-issued biography said he joined the mujahedeen fighters who battled the Soviet Union in 1986.

He has served for years as Al Qaeda's media chief, offering audio statements and written articles backing the bully boy group. After years of remaining silent following the acknowledgment of Taliban founder Mullah Mohammad Blinky Omar
...a minor Pashtun commander in the war against the Soviets who made good as leader of the Taliban. As ruler of Afghanistan, he took the title Leader of the Faithful. The imposition of Pashtunkhwa on the nation institutionalized ignorance and brutality in a country already notable for its own fair share of ignorance and brutality. Died of an unspecified ailment in a Pak hospital...
's death, al-Rauf re-emerged in 2018 in an audio statement in which he mocked President Trump and those who preceded him the White House.

Posted by: Fred 2020-10-25
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=585708