A military airstrike in northwest Syria has killed the leader of a shadowy Qaeda cell that American officials say has been plotting attacks against the United States and Europe, the Pentagon announced on Sunday.
The leader, Sanafi al-Nasr, a Saudi national, was the highest-ranking leader of a network of some two dozen veteran Qaeda operatives called the Khorasan Group and the fifth senior member of the group to be killed in the past four months.
His death was announced in a Pentagon statement describing Thursday’s operation, which American officials said was a drone strike.
Mr. Nasr, whose full name was Abdul Mohsen Adballah Ibrahim al Charekh, was a longtime militant experienced in funneling money and fighters for Al Qaeda, said Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary.
