US air strike kills seven Al Qaeda leaders in Syria

America also conducted a strike on the terrorist organisation near Idlib on October 15

Members of Al Qaeda in a trench near Al Zahra village, north of Aleppo city on November 25, 2014. Reuters
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The US said it killed seven senior leaders of Al Qaeda in Syria in an air strike last week as the leaders were meeting near Idlib in the north-west of the country, US Central Command said on Monday.

The strike was conducted last Thursday, a Central Command spokeswoman, said Maj Beth Riordan.

Maj Riordan did not disclose the names of the seven leaders.

“The removal of these leaders will disrupt the terrorist organisation’s ability to further plot and carryout global attacks threatening US citizens, our partners and innocent civilians,” she said.

“AQ-S takes advantage of the instability in north-west Syria to establish and maintain safe havens to co-ordinate terrorist activities.

“With our allies and partners, we will continue to target Al Qaeda and other terrorist organisations.”

The US also conducted an air strike on the terrorist organisation near Idlib, on October 15.

That strike killed 17 members of the terrorist group including 11 leaders, a war monitor said.

Five civilians were also among those killed in the strike near the Turkish border, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said.

Abu Muhsin Al Masri, a key Al Qaeda commander who was on the FBI's most-wanted list, was killed in Afghanistan on Saturday.