U.S. kills senior Khorasan Group leader

A U.S. airstrike in Syria has killed a key figure in a dangerous al-Qaida offshoot, the Defense Department said Tuesday. Muhsin al-Fadhli was killed in a July 8 air attack while traveling in a vehicle near Sarmada, Syria, Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis said in a statement. Davis did not further elaborate on the nature of the air strike, such as whether al-Fadhli was killed by a drone or a piloted aircraft. Al-Fadhli was a leader of the Khorasan Group, a cadre of al-Qaida operatives who were sent from Pakistan to Syria to plot attacks on the West. Officials say the Khorasan Group is embedded in the al Nusra front, Syria’s al-Qaida affiliate. Al-Fadhli had been falsely reported as having been killed last fall.

His death will degrade and disrupt ongoing external operations of al-Qaida against the United States and our allies and partners.

Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff Davis

Davis noted that he was “among the few trusted al-Qaida leaders that received advanced notification of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks." Al-Fadhli was also involved in October 2002 attacks against U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island in Kuwait and on the French ship MV Limburg, Davis said. The existence of the Khorasan Group demonstrates that core al-Qaida in Pakistan can still threaten the West, despite the damage done to that organization by years of drone missile strikes. The U.S. military has periodically targeted the group as part of its air campaign in Syria, beginning with eight strikes against Khorasan targets last September.

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