Al-Qaida offshoot leader killed, US says

A US-led coalition airstrike this month killed the leader of an al-Qaida offshoot in Syria that US officials accuse of plotting attacks against the United States and its allies, the Pentagon said.

Muhsin al-Fadhli was killed in a "kinetic strike" on July 8 while traveling in a vehicle near the northwestern Syrian town of Sarmada, said Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman.

He did not confirm whether a drone or a manned aircraft had killed Fadhli, 34.

The strike was the second attempt to kill Fadhli.

Fadhli was allegedly the leader of the Khorasan Group, a group of senior al-Qaida members who have traveled from Central Asia and elsewhere in the Middle East to Syria to plot attacks on the West.

The Kuwaiti-born militant was so trusted by the inner circle of late al-Qaida supreme leader Osama bin Laden that he was among the few who knew in advance about the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the US, according to US intelligence.

"His death will degrade and disrupt ongoing external operations of al-Qaida against the US and its allies and partners," said Davis, who heads the Defense Department's media operations.

However, counterterrorism expert Bruce Riedel, a former CIA analyst, called Fadhli's death a "serious but not fatal" blow to al-Qaida in Syria.

Davis said Fadhli was also involved in the 2002 attacks against US Marines on Kuwait's Failaka Island and on the MV Limburg, a French oil tanker.

$7 million reward

He was reported to have been previously targeted in a US airstrike in September, but his death was not confirmed by US officials at the time.

Officials say Khorasan is part of al-Qaida's Syrian branch, the al-Nusra Front, although experts and activists cast doubt on the distinction between the two groups.

In a September interview, US President Barack Obama listed Khorasan among "immediate threats to the US", warning that "those folks could kill Americans".

The US State Department had posted a $7 million reward for information leading to Fadhli's death or detention.

He was wanted by law enforcement authorities in Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the US for terrorist activities.

The diminutive fighter - US intelligence says he measured 165 cm - fought alongside the Taliban and al-Qaida in Pakistan, according to the US State Department.

The US National Counterterrorism Center has said he had become al-Qaida's senior leader in Iran.

AFP - Xinhua