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Al-Qaida Confirms Death of Senior Leader in Syria

by Associated Press

   CAIRO --

   Al-Qaida confirmed on Thursday that a U.S.-led coalition drone strike
   had killed senior leader Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, in a joint statement
   issued by the militant group's Maghreb and Arabian Peninsula branches.

   A Hellfire missile fired by a CIA drone killed the al-Qaeda leader late
   on Sunday while he was riding in a car near the northwestern Syrian
   city of Idlib, a U.S. intelligence official said on Wednesday.

   Al-Masri was second-in-command to the group's leader, Ayman
   al-Zawahiri, and a member of its shura council, said the official.