The leader of the shadowy al-Qaeda offshoot called the Khorasan Group has been blown up during an air strike in Syria, the US has claimed.
Muhsin Al-Fadhli, a Kuwaiti, was killed while travelling in a vehicle near Sarmada, in Idlib province near the Turkish border on 8 July, according to the Pentagon.
A statement by US Navy Capt Jeff Davis said Al Fadhli was among the few al-Qaeda leaders to know about the September 11 attacks in advance.
The Khorasan Group is a cell of al-Qaeda operatives who were sent from Pakistan to Syria to plot attacks on the West. Officials say it is is embedded with the al-Nusra front, Syria's al-Qaeda affiliate.
Previously based in Iran, al-Fadhli was the subject of a $7million (£4.5million) reward by the US State Department for information leading to his capture or death. He had been falsely reported as having been killed last autumn.
Al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri sent the Khorasan to Syria
Al-Fadhli was also involved in attacks against US Marines in Kuwait and on the French tanker MV Limburg in October 2002, Capt Davis said.
Khorasan militants are thought to have been sent to Syria by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri as part of a plot to recruit Europeans and Americans - whose passports allow them to board flights to the US – and send them to West armed with explosives.
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The US decided in July last year to ban uncharged mobile phones and laptops from Europe and the Middle East to America.
US Congressman Adam Schiff said that al-Fadhli could not be easily replaced. He described him as "a seasoned, knowledgeable and dangerous terrorist who actively sought to harm the United States and its allies has been taken off the battlefield for good.”
