According to the US Department of Defense, Mufti Assad, al Qaeda's leader for Kunar province in Afghanistan was killed on August 3 . . . Assad was killed in an airstrike in Watahpur district of Kunar province . . . in addition, his deputy, Yusuf Omar, was also eliminated in the airstrike . . . both individuals were key al Qaeda and Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists . . . Assad was known to be an expert in explosives and conducted extensive training of Afghan insurgents on how to make improvised explosive devices (IED) . . . in a separate airstrike Fatah Gul, known as an “al Qaeda facilitator” because of his ability to provide safe havens to terrorists in eastern Afghanistan was killed in Watahpur . . . Gul was known to have run several IED training camps. . . the removal of these three individuals from the battlefield is a positive sign and may result in a decrease in IED attacks in the short term . . . even so, eliminating these leaders will not likely yield a marked decrease in violence in these areas, as replacements are sure to emerge.