Pentagon Confirms That It Killed Muhsin al-Fadhli, the Leader of Al-Qaeda’s Khorasan Group in Syria on July 8th

July 21, 2015

Pentagon Official Confirms Death of Khorasan Group Leader

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 21, 2015 – Muhsin al-Fadhli, a longtime al-Qaida operative, was killed “in a kinetic strike” July 8 while traveling in a vehicle near Sarmada, Syria, Navy Capt. Jeff Davis, the Defense Department’s press operations chief, said today.

Fadhli was the leader of a network of veteran al-Qaida operatives, sometimes called the Khorasan Group, who are plotting external attacks against the United States and its allies, Davis said in a statement.

He was a senior al-Qaida facilitator who was among the few trusted al-Qaida leaders who received advance notification of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States, Davis said, and also was 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.

His death will degrade and disrupt ongoing external operations of al-Qaida against the United States and its allies and partners, the captain said.