Asim Omar, the dreaded terrorist and the Al-Qaeda chief of South Asia region has been killed in Afghanistan in a joint US-Afghanistan commando raid on 23 September. According to the reports, Asim Omar, the leader of Al-Qaeda’s South Asian branch, was killed in a US-Afghan joint airstrike in Musa Qala district in Afghanistan’s southern Helmand province in September.
The India-born head of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) was killed along with six other Al-Qaeda members in the southern Helmand province. According to US government, Maulana Asim Omar was a resident of Sambhal, Uttar Pradesh in India. He had then migrated to Pakistan in 1990.
According to a report in the AFP, Asim Omar led Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS) from its inception in 2014.
Confirming the killing of Asim Omar, Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security tweeted, “NDS can now confirm the death of Asim Omar, leader of Al-Qaeda in the Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), in a joint US-Afghan raid on a Taliban compound in Musa Qala district of Helmand province on Sep. 23.”
1/2: BREAKING: #NDS can now confirm the death of Asim Omar, leader of #Al_Qaeda in the #Indian Subcontinent (AQIS), in a joint US-Afghan raid on a Taliban compound in Musa Qala district of Helmand province on Sep. 23. pic.twitter.com/sFKi38M6MC
— NDS Afghanistan (@NDSAfghanistan) October 8, 2019
“Omar, a Pakistani citizen, was killed along with six other AQIS members, most of them Pakistani. Among them was Raihan, Omar’s courier to Ayman Al-Zawahiri. They had been embedded inside the Taliban compound in the Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala,” Afghanistan’s National Directorate of Security further tweeted.
2/2: Omar, a #Pakistani citizen, was #killed along with six other AQIS members, most of them Pakistani. Among them was Raihan, Omar’s courier to Ayman #Al_Zawahiri. They had been embedded inside the Taliban compound in the #Taliban stronghold of Musa Qala. pic.twitter.com/7jQF7bK7aD
— NDS Afghanistan (@NDSAfghanistan) October 8, 2019
Reportedly, the joint US-Afghan operations also resulted in collateral damage with at least 40 people attending a wedding party in the area were killed.
Nearly 22 Taliban fighters were killed during the operation while 14 people were arrested, including five Pakistani nationals and one Bangladeshi citizen. A large warehouse of supplies and equipment was also destroyed during the joint raid.
