US drone strike kills man behind Marriott Hotel bombing, Pentagon says

By Ryan Browne and Faith Karimi

A US airstrike in southeast Afghanistan killed an al Qaeda leader responsible for the deadly attack on the Marriott Hotel in Pakistan, the Pentagon said.

Qari Yasin was killed in a drone strike in Paktika Province on March 19, the Pentagon said late Saturday.

The September 2008 suicide truck bombing at the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad killed more than 50 people, including two US service members. It sparked a fire that charred the hotel, which is near the diplomatic section of Islamabad.

Yasin is responsible for other carnage, including an attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team, which was visiting Lahore, Pakistan, in March 2009. In that incident, gunmen sprayed the team's tour bus with bullets as it neared the stadium, killing eight people -- six police officers and two civilians -- and leaving several visiting players wounded.

The attack was a huge blow for the future of international cricket in Pakistan. In the years that followed, international teams backed out of playing in the country, citing security concerns. In 2015, visiting teams played in Pakistan for the first time since the incident.

"The death of Qari Yasin is evidence that terrorists who defame Islam and deliberately target innocent people will not escape justice," Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said in a statement.