A key figure from Al-Qaida, Muhsin Fadhli, was killed in an U.S. military airstrike in July 8, 2015 while traveling in a vehicle near the Turkish border in Sarmada, Syria, said the U.S. Defense Department.
The Pentagon spokesman, Capt. Jeff Davis, did not go further on the nature of the attack by not specifying if Fadhli had been killed by a piloted drone or an aircraft.
Muhsin Fadhli was the leader of the Khorasan Group, a cadre of Al Qaeda operatives whose main task is to generate attacks on the West. He had a record on terrorist’s assaults for he was involved in the October 2002 attacks against marines on Faulak Island, Kuwait, and on French ship MV Limburg. Davis said he was also “among the few trusted Al-Qaida leaders that received advanced notification of the September 11, 2001, attacks”.
Officials have said that the Khorasan Group, related to the Nustra front–Syria´s Al-Qaida affiliate-, is a threat to the U.S. safety. Al-Qaida leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri sent this group to recruit Americans and Europeans whose passports allow them to easily board on a U.S. airplane. The have also been working with bomber makers to prove if they can avoid airports security controls.
This is a big step for the US State Department in fighting against terrorism. They had offered a $7 million reward for information leading to Fadhli’s capture or death, although he was allegedly killed last fall.