In brief: NATO kills a top al-Qaida leader

Islamabad – U.S.-led coalition troops battling Afghan Taliban insurgents have killed al-Qaida’s second-in-command in Afghanistan in an airstrike in the country’s eastern province of Kunar, the coalition said Tuesday.

Sakhr al-Taifi, a Saudi national, commanded foreign insurgent fighters and frequently moved between Afghanistan and Pakistan, often overseeing the transport of militants into Afghanistan, NATO said in a prepared statement. The airstrike occurred Sunday in the Watahpur district of Kunar, a volatile Afghan province along the Pakistani border.

Over the last two years, the U.S. has steadily eroded al-Qaida’s leadership ranks. U.S. drone missile strikes during that time period have killed at least 18 senior al-Qaida leaders and commanders, as well as several top Taliban commanders.

Human foot mailed to party office

Ottawa, Ontario – A severed human foot was mailed to the headquarters of Canada’s Conservative Party and another body part was discovered when police intercepted a second suspicious package, police said Tuesday.

Police were called shortly after a receptionist opened a blood-soaked box at the headquarters of Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s party. When a special hazardous-material unit opened the package, police found the severed foot inside.

Police said the package was addressed to the Conservative Party of Canada and not to a specific person.

The horror was not confined to Ottawa. Ottawa police were consulting with their counterparts in Montreal after they discovered a severed torso in a suitcase.

Ottawa police said it was too early to speculate on a link.