Targeted by U.S. airstrikes: The secretive al-Qaeda cell plotting an ‘imminent attack’

In addition to a broader campaign of airstrikes against Islamic State targets across Syria on Monday night, the United States also pounded a little-known, but well-resourced al-Qaeda cell that some American officials fear could pose a direct threat to the United States.

The Pentagon said in a statement early Tuesday morning that U.S. warplanes conducted eight strikes west of Aleppo against the cell, called the Khorasan Group, targeting its “training camps, an explosives and munitions production facility, a communications building and command and control facilities.”

The attacks bring broader attention to the group of clandestine al-Qaeda operatives, which U.S. officials first warned of last week. The group “has established a safe haven in Syria to develop external attacks, construct and test improvised explosive devices and recruit Westerners to conduct operations,” the Pentagon said.

The mission of the Khorasan, led by longtime al-Qaeda leader Muhsin al-Fadhli, appears to be different than other militant groups operating in Syria.

Its objective in Syria isn’t to overthrow Bashar al-Assad, or accumulate land and resources like Islamic State. Rather, its members have come from Pakistan, Yemen and Afghanistan to exploit the flood of Western jihadists who now have skin in the fight — and possess very valuable passports. According to the Associated Press, al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri dispatched the group to recruit those Western fighters, who have a better chance of escaping scrutiny at airports and could place bombs on planes.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/09/22/the-elusive-figure-u-s-officials-fear-as-much-as-the-islamic-state/