Nusra Front in Syria Confirms Death of Spokesman
Al-Qaida's Syrian affiliate confirmed on Wednesday the death of its spokesman Abu Firas al-Suri in a U.S. air strike earlier this week.
In a statement circulated on Twitter, Al-Nusra Front said Suri and other members "were killed during a Crusader (Western) air strike... on April 3, 2016."
It said the raid had hit a training camp, but did not specify where in Syria.
On Monday, the Pentagon said the U.S. military conducted an air raid on an Al-Nusra meeting in northwest Syria the previous day but could not confirm whether Suri had been killed.
Suri was a Syrian national and a "legacy" Al-Qaida member who fought in Afghanistan in the late 1980s and 1990s, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
He "worked with Osama bin Laden and other founding Al-Qaida members to train terrorists and conduct attacks globally," Cook said, adding that Sunday's strike killed several enemy fighters.
Suri's death had been reported by the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, which said that his son and at least 20 other jihadists were also killed Sunday in strikes on positions in Idlib province.
Source: Agence France Presse
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