Airstrike kills top al-Qaida leader

AL-QAIDA has confirmed the death of a senior commander known as a top explosives and poisons expert, who is believed to have been killed in a US airstrike in Pakistan last week.

A web statement released yesterday said Abu Khabab al-Masri and three other commanders were killed. It did not give details on when or how they were killed, but Pakistani authorities have said they believe al-Masri died in a US airstrike last Monday on a compound near the Afghan border.

Pakistani officials have said six people were killed in the strike, in the country’s South Waziristan region.