Rebels: Senior al-Qaida fighter killed in Syria
BEIRUT (AP) — A spokesman for a rebel coalition says a suicide bombing has killed a senior al-Qaida operative in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo.
Islamic Front spokesman Akram al-Halabi said the militant, known as Abu Khaled al-Suri, was killed on Sunday.
Al-Halabi said that an al-Qaida breakaway group, the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant, was suspected in the attack.
ISIL has been fighting with other rebel groups in northern Syria. It broke with al-Qaida earlier this year.
According to al-Hababi, Abu Khaled al-Suri is the representative of al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in Syria. Al-Zawahiri appointed him to resolve fighting between rebels and ISIL.
He was also the co-founder of the hard-line rebel group Ahrar al-Sham, a key member of the Islamic Front.
