Statement by Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook Confirming Death of Al-Qaeda Leader
Nov. 4, 2016

We can now confirm that the precision strike conducted by the U.S. military on Oct. 23 in Kunar, Afghanistan, resulted in the death of senior al-Qaeda leader Faruq al-Qatani. Al-Qatani was al-Qaeda’s emir for eastern Afghanistan and one of the terrorist group’s senior plotters of attacks against the United States. This successful strike is another example of U.S. operations to degrade international terrorist networks and target terrorist leaders who seek to attack the U.S. homeland, our interests and our allies abroad. Another al-Qaeda leader in Afghanistan, Bilal al-Utabi, was also targeted in a separate strike. We are still assessing the results of that strike.