Score Two For the Good Guys?

Al Qaeda pretty much admits that one of their top thugs in Afghanistan died of tremendous heartache and a firefight, with the emphasis on the firefight between the terrorists and Afghan and US forces. In fact, it appears that the US and Afghan forces killed several al Qaeda top tier terrorists in operations this week.

A prominent member of al Qaeda was killed in fighting with U.S.-led forces in Afghanistan, the group said in a statement posted on an Islamist website on Sunday.

Abu Suleiman al-Otaibi, formerly one of the group's leaders in Iraq, was killed in a "fierce battle with the worshipers of the cross" in Paktia, it said without giving the date of the battle.

Another al Qaeda member, identified as Abu Dejana al-Qahtani, also died in the fighting, it added.

Afghan officials said they had no information on the report. But the government earlier said in a statement that "five opposition" fighters were killed on Saturday in Paktia during an operation involving Afghan and U.S.-led troops.

The leader of al Qaeda in Afghanistan Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said Qahtani left Iraq about six months ago without giving further details.

I let that last paragraph sink in for those who didn't quite get it the first time. Al Qaeda was sending its terrorists from Iraq to Afghanistan. That means that they were operating in Iraq and trying to bolster their forces in Afghanistan.

However, the US and Afghans managed to kill Qahtani. That's one less globe trotting al Qaeda terrorist to contend with.