Nation Mar 26

FILE PHOTO - Mattis testifies before a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on his nomination to serve as defense secretary in Washington
Pentagon: An al-Qaida leader killed in Afghanistan airstrike

A U.S. counterterrorism airstrike earlier this month in Afghanistan killed an al-Qaida leader responsible for a deadly hotel attack in Islamabad in 2008 and the 2009 attack on a bus carrying the Sri Lankan cricket team.