KABUL- Key Al-Qaeda leader Abul Bara Al-Kuwaiti was killed in an operation by the National Directorate of Security (NDS) forces in eastern Nangarhar province of Afghanistan on Saturday, the NDS said in a statement today.

The statement highlighted that, "Abul Bara Al-Kuwaiti had close relations with the family of Ayman Al-Zawahiri, the Al-Qaeda leader," adding that Al-Kuwaiti was killed in Nazyan district of the province at al-Qaeda's commander, Abdul Samad Khenjeri's house.

During the operation, the NDS also seized weapons and important documents regarding al-Qaeda activity. This is while three days ago, the Afghan National Security Forces (ANSF) arrested two top leaders of the Haqqani Network, Anas Haqqani and Hafiz Rashid, marking a major blow to the insurgent group.

Anas, the stepbrother of Sarajudin Haqqani, had a substantial role in high-level decision making in the network. Rashid was said to have overseen the preparation of suicide bombers for attacks inside Afghanistan, according to NDS.