Key Al Qaeda leader killed in Afghanistan

Afghan forces said they had killed a top Al Qaeda militant wanted by the United States, as the death toll from a blast in the capital rose to 24 on Sunday.

Abu Muhsin Al Masri, an Egyptian national believed to be the number-two for the militant group in the Indian sub-continent, was targeted in central Ghazni province, Afghanistan's National Directorate of Security said in a statement.

It did not provide further details about the operation or when it was carried out.

A source at the intelligence agency, who did not want to be named, told the media that an aide to Al Masri who was "in contact with the Taliban" was also detained.

READ MORE

Afghan air strike hits school as Taliban mount attacks: Officials

Blast causes fire at petrochemical plant in southwest Iran

New clashes in Nagorno-Karabakh after Washington talks

Al Masri, who also goes by the name Husam Abd-al-Ra’uf, is on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.

A US warrant for his arrest was issued in December 2018, after he was charged with providing support and resources to a foreign terrorist organisation and plotting to kill US nationals, according to the FBI.

Masri's killing comes as peace talks continue in Qatar between the Taliban and the Afghan government in a bid to end the country's long-running war.

The negotiations were organised after a deal between the United States and the Taliban in February, under which the militants agreed to not allow Afghan soil to be used by foreign extremists.

An Afghan receives treatment at hospital after suicide attack in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Saturday. Mariam Zuhaib/AP

The Taliban government's sheltering of Al Qaeda was the original reason for the US invasion of Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 attacks.

Efforts to bring peace to Afghanistan have been complicated, however, because of ongoing attacks by Islamic State militants.

In the latest Daesh-claimed attack, a suicide bomber struck near an education centre in a western district of Kabul on Saturday.

The death toll from the bombing climbed to 24 on Sunday, according to the interior ministry.

Ministry spokesman Tariq Arian said another 57 people had been wounded.

Residents in several districts of western Kabul belong to the minority Shiite Hazara community, and are often targeted by Sunni extremists of Daesh.