[Al Jazeera] A senior al-Qaeda leader, NATO's second most wanted fighter in the country, was killed in an ... which is right down the road from Binny's house in Chitral...
bordering Pakistain, an International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) statement said.
Abu Hafs al-Najdi, also known as Abdul Ghani, a Soddy Arabian, was killed 12 days ago in Dangam district, on April 13, as he met other senior bully boyz and al-Qaeda members, an ISAF statement said.
"Abdul Ghani was responsible for the co-ordination of numerous high-profile attacks. On the morning of his death, he reportedly directed the suicide kaboom that killed tribal elder Malik Zarin and nine other Afghan civilians," ISAF said.
Abu Hafs al-Najdi was al-Qaeda's operations chief for Kunar and was responsible for establishing beturbanned goon camps and training sites throughout the volatile mountain province.
ISAF said he was one of more than 25 al-Qaeda operatives killed in Afghanistan during operations over the past month in the leadup to Afghanistan's summer fighting months.
News of his death came a day after hundreds of captured fighters tunnelled their way out of a high-security jail in southern Kandahar, triggering an extensive manhunt and tightening of security along the Pakistain border.
Najdi, whose real name was Saleh Naiv Almakhlvi Day, controlled and armed a network of armed fighters that targeted Afghan and ISAF security force outposts throughout Kunar, including two in February, ISAF said.
He was also No.23 on Soddy Arabia's list of 85 most wanted people issued in 2009, which said he was active in either Afghanistan, Pakistain or Iran. ISAF began hunting him in Afghanistan in 2007.
ISAF said Najdi was with a Pak Qaeda operative named Waqas when the
"Abdul Ghani commonly instructed subordinate leaders to conduct kidnapping operations against foreigners ... and he was responsible for directing suicide kabooms targeting US government officials," ISAF said.
Insurgents in the country are under stepped up pressure from NATO-led troops and a growing Afghan army ahead of the start this summer of a transfer of security responsibilities from foreign to Afghan forces.
An ISAF front man would not name the coalition's top target for fear of hampering their search, but alliance commanders have previously claimed there are only 50 to 100 Qaeda gunnies still active in Afghanistan.
The withdrawal of US forces from the Korengal and Pech river valleys in Kunar in late 2009 has created more space for al Qaeda and the Taliban to expand their operations in the region, security website The Long War Journal said.