Foreign Affairs

Top Al-Qaida Leader On FBI Most Wanted List Killed In Afghanistan: Report

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Afghanistan on Sunday claimed to have killed a top al-Qaida terror leader and propagandist who is on the FBI’s most wanted list.

Husam Abd al-Rauf, who was wanted by the FBI for providing support to terrorist organizations and conspiring to kill U.S. nationals, was reportedly killed in firefight in a Taliban-controlled area, according to the Associated Press. A total of six other suspected Islamic militants were dispatched in the raid and one Afghan authority was killed, the AP reported.

FBI Most Wanted/FBI

Al-Rauf reportedly served as al-Qaida’s chief of media and wrote propaganda in the form of articles and audio messages, according to the news wire.

The National Directorate of Security, an Afghan government body, said the red-haired man was a close associate of Osama Bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri, the current leader of al-Qaida, the AP noted.

Al-Rauf was reportedly heard on a 2018 audio tape mocking President Donald Trump and calling him “Donald T Rambo,” in an effort to liken him to the popular American fictional character John Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone, according to the news wire.

The terror leader’s death follows a Saturday suicide bomb attack in Kabul that left 24 dead and 57 injured, the AP reported.

Al-Qaida has not immediately recognized al-Rauf’s death, according to the AP.