The leader of a terrorist group bent on attacking the United
States and other western targets was killed in a targeted strike earlier this
month, the Pentagon said Tuesday.
Muhsin al Fadhli,
a Kuwaiti-born jihadi with a $7 million bounty on his head from the U.S.
government, was the leader of the Khorasan
Group -- a collection of senior
al Qaeda members who had moved into Syria amid the chaotic destruction of the
country in recent years.
"His death
will degrade and disrupt ongoing external operations of al-Qaeda against the
United States and our allies and partners," Pentagon spokesman Capt. Jeff
Davis said in a written statement.
According to
Davis, the strike occurred on July 8 while al Fadhli was traveling in a vehicle
near Sarmada, Syria.
While terrorist
groups like ISIS and the al Qaeda affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra are responsible for
much of the violence inside Syria, the Khorasan Group was believed to direct
most of its energy plotting external attacks in the West.
One of the
group's facilities was hit in a strike last September on the first night of
U.S.-led military action inside Syria. Coalition aircraft have subsequently hit
more of Khorasan's training camps and other facilities inside Syria in the
nearly year-long aerial campaign.
Al Fadhli who
fought alongside al Qaeda and the Taliban in Afghanistan, and was among the
"few trusted al Qaeda leaders that received advanced notification of the
September 11, 2001, attacks," Davis said.
He was also
involved in terrorist attacks that took place in October 2002, including against
U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island in Kuwait and on the French ship MV Limburg.
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