Al-Qaida suicide-bombing chief killed in U.S. airstrike

ERBIL , Iraq, July 24 (UPI) -- A senior al-Qaida leader who headed the suicide bombing and explosives operations was killed in an U.S. airstrike in Afghanistan in mid July, the Pentagon said.

Abu Khalil al-Sudani, who was killed July 11, was also in charge of operations directly involved in attack well as against American, Afghan and Pakistani forces, Defense Department officials said. He was one of three "violent extremists" killed in the strike in the Bermel district of Paktika province, officials said.

Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter, who arrived Friday morning in Erbil, said al-Sudani's death shows the United States will "continue to take the fight to al-Qaida."

"We will continue to counter violent extremism in the region and around the world, including efforts to deliver a lasting defeat to ISIL," Carter added, in a reference to the Islamic State.