World | Tue Jul 21, 2015 5:28pm EDT

Al-Qaeda operative Muhsin al-Fadhli killed in air strike: Pentagon

WASHINGTON

A longtime al Qaeda operative and key figure in the so-called Khorasan Group, Muhsin al-Fadhli, was killed in a U.S. air strike while traveling in a vehicle in northwestern Syria two weeks ago, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Al-Fadhli, who had previously been targeted and believed by some U.S. officials to have been killed, was traveling in a vehicle on July 8 near Sarmada, Syria, west of Aleppo, when he was hit by an air strike, the Pentagon said.

He "was a senior al Qaeda facilitator who was among the few trusted al Qaeda leaders that received advanced notification of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks," Navy Captain Jeff Davis, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement.

Al-Fadhli was involved in attacks in October 2002 against U.S. Marines on Faylaka Island in Kuwait and against the French ship MV Limburg, Davis said.

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