A precision NATO airstrike in Afghanistan has killed a senior militant involved in the deadly Taliban attack on the Intercontinental Hotel in Kabul. NPR points to the statement provided by the The International Security Assistance Force:

[T]oday a top Haqqani network leader suspected of providing material support to the Kabul suicide bomb attack June 28, was killed in a precision airstrike in Gardez district, Paktiya province, yesterday. Ismail Jan was the deputy to the senior Haqqani commander inside Afghanistan, Haji Mali Khan. Jan and several Haqqani fighters were killed in strike.

BBC News correspondents confirmed that Ismail Jan was a "leading commander in the Haqqani network, which is linked to the Taliban and al-Qaeda." The AFP reports that NATO "security forces tracked his location based on intelligence reports from Afghan government officials, citizens and 'disenfranchised insurgents' before calling in the air strike."

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Erik Hayden