An American airstrike killed a senior-level Pakistani terrorist with ties to al Qaeda and the Pakistani Taliban, the Defense Department announced Saturday night.
The Pentagon said in a statement that a U.S. drone strike fatally stuck Qari Yasin on March 19 in Afghanistan's Paktika Province. The department characterized Yasin as a "well-known al Qaida terrorist leader responsible for the deaths of dozens of innocent victims, including two American service members."
Yasin plotted the Sept. 2008 bombing on the Marriott hotel in Islamabad that killed dozens of people, including U.S. Air Force Maj. Rodolfo Rodriguez and Navy Cryptologic Technician Third Class Petty Officer Matthew O’Bryant, according to the Pentagon.
Yasin was also behind the 2009 terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore, where gunmen ambushed the team's bus using grenades, rifles, and missiles, killing six police officers and two bystanders.
Pakistan's Counter-Terrorism Department offered a $19,000 bounty for Yasin following the attack, Reuters reported.
"The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice," Defense Secretary James Mattis said in a statement.
