Key al-Qaeda leader killed in Afghanistan, as death toll from suicide bombing at Kabul education centre rises to 24

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 Islamist 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 AFP that an aide to al-Masri who was "in contact with the Taliban" was also detained. 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.

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