“Al-Fadhli was the leader of a network of veteran al-Qaeda operatives, sometimes called the Khorasan Group, who are plotting external attacks against the United States and our allies”, Davis said in a statement.
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It emerged earlier this year that al-Fadhli had been personally instrumental in turning Mohammed Emwazi – or “Jihadi John” – into the bloodthirsty executioner who appeared in several gruesome Isis (Islamic State) videos beheading Western hostages.
Officials have said the Khorasan militants were sent to Syria by al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri to recruit Europeans and Americans whose passports allow them to board a US-bound airliner with less scrutiny from security officials.
Meanwhile, three Spanish journalists have gone missing in Syria where they were reporting from the northwestern Aleppo region, the Spanish press federation said.
Al-Fadhli was involved in attacks in October 2002 against US Marines on Faylaka Island in Kuwait and against the French ship MV Limburg, Davis said.
He did not confirm whether a drone or a manned aircraft had killed Fadhli, 34.
“His death will degrade and disrupt ongoing external operations of al-Qaeda against the United States and our allies and partners”, he added.
In an interview last September, President Barack Obama listed Khorasan as among the “immediate threats to the US”, warning that “those folks could kill Americans”.
Previously based in Iran, Fadhli was the subject of a $7 million (£4.5m) reward by the US State Department for information leading to his capture or death.
“Ayman Zawahri created the Khorasan group to bring together the best operatives from across al-Qaida to Syria to target the West, and now their leader is apparently dead”.
As reported by classified U.S. intelligence assessments, the Khorasan militants have been working with bomb-makers from al-Qaida’s Yemen affiliate to test new ways to slip explosives past airport security.
“This is a significant blow to Al-Qaeda’s top terror team”, said former Central Intelligence Agency analyst Bruce Riedel, now at the Brookings Institution.
Before September’s missile strikes, US intelligence reports indicated that the Khorasan Group was “in the final stages of plans to execute major attacks”.
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The Pentagon described Khorasan as an offshoot of the al-Qaida affiliate in Syria, al Nusra Front. Officials fear that the Khorasan militants could provide these sophisticated explosives to their Western recruits, who could sneak them onto U.S.-bound flights. “He was highly supportive of al-Qaida in Iraq, which later became the group we now recognize as ISIS”.
