US airstrike kills leader of al Qaida offshoot

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"111265417"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"2">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><p>A US airstrike in Syria has killed Muhsin al-Fadhli&comma; a key figure in a dangerous al Qaida offshoot called the Khorasan Group&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He was killed in a July 8 air attack while travelling in a vehicle near Sarmada&comma; Pentagon spokesman Captain Jeff Davis said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>He did not further elaborate on the nature of the air strike&comma; such as whether al-Fadhli was killed by a drone or a piloted aircraft&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Al-Fadhli was a leader of the Khorasan Group&comma; a cadre of al Qaida operatives who were sent from Pakistan to Syria to plot attacks on the West&period; Officials say the Khorasan Group is embedded in the al Nusra front&comma; Syria’s al Qaida affiliate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Previously based in Iran&comma; al-Fadhli was the subject of a US &dollar;7 million dollar reward by the US State Department for information leading to his capture or death&period; He had been falsely reported as having been killed last autumn&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Capt&period; Davis said he was &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;among the few trusted al Qaida leaders that received advanced notification of the September 11&comma; 2001&comma; attacks”&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Al-Fadhli was also involved in October 2002 attacks against US Marines on Faylaka Island in Kuwait and on the French ship MV Limburg&comma; Capt Davis said&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;His death will degrade and disrupt ongoing external operations of al Qaida against the United States and our allies and partners&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Officials have said the Khorasan militants were sent to Syria by al Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to recruit Europeans and Americans whose passports allow them to board a US-bound airliner with less scrutiny from security officials&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>According to classified US intelligence assessments&comma; the Khorasan militants have been working with bomb-makers from al Qaida’s Yemen affiliate to test new ways to slip explosives past airport security&period; Officials feared the Khorasan militants would provide these sophisticated explosives to their Western recruits who could sneak them onto US-bound flights&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Because of intelligence about the collaboration among the Khorasan group&comma; al Qaida’s Yemeni bomb-makers and Western extremists&comma; the US transportation security administration decided last July to ban uncharged mobile phones and laptops from flights to the US that originated in Europe and the Middle East&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The Khorasan group remains a threat&comma; American officials said&period; Its existence demonstrates that core al Qaida in Pakistan can still threaten the West&comma; despite the damage done to the organisation by years of drone missile strikes&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;A seasoned&comma; knowledgeable and dangerous terrorist who actively sought to harm the United States and its allies has been taken off the battlefield for good&comma;” said Representative Adam Schiff&comma; the senior Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee&comma; noting that al-Fadhli will not be easily replaced&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The US military has periodically targeted the group as part of its air campaign in Syria&comma; beginning with eight strikes against Khorasan targets last September&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Among those who have so far survived the bombs is a French-born jihadist who fought in Afghanistan with a military prowess that is of great concern to US intelligence officials&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>David Drugeon&comma; who was born in the Brittany region and converted to Islam as a youth&comma; spent time with al Qaida in the tribal areas of Pakistan before travelling to Syria&comma; French officials say&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div style&equals;"padding-bottom&colon;15px&semi;" class&equals;"wordads-tag" data-slot-type&equals;"belowpost">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div id&equals;"atatags-dynamic-belowpost-68cd21f5e7a00">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<script type&equals;"text&sol;javascript">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;window&period;getAdSnippetCallback &equals; 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