Qaeda confirms coalition strike killed top leader in Syria

Al-Qaeda has confirmed that top leader Abu Khayr al-Masri, believed to be the organisation's number two, was killed in an air strike by the US-led coalition in Syria.In a statement two branches of the jihadist group, including the powerful Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), called Masri a "hero" and said he was killed "during a Crusader drone strike" in Syria."All of al-Sham (Syria) will bear witness to the latest crime of America and the Crusader alliance," the statement dated Wednesday said, in reference to the US-led coalition bombing jihadists in Syria and Iraq. It also expressed its condolences to Qaeda's current leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri. Masri is a son-in-law of Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden and is believed to be Zawahiri's deputy.A US official said this week that Washington was investigating reports that Masri had been killed in a US strike in or around the city of Idlib in northern Syria.The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group said earlier this week that a February 26 coalition raid on the town of Mastumah in Idlib province had killed Masri. Egypt-born al-Masri, 59, was one of the most prominent figures in Al-Qaeda to have roots in the era before the September 11, 2001 attacks, according to the Soufan Group, a private security and intelligence consultancy."It was in al-Masri's guesthouse in Kabul, Afghanistan, that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed briefed top Al-Qaeda leaders about the planning of the September 11, 2001 attacks," the Soufan Group said.His presence in Syria's northwestern Idlib province underscores the importance that country has gained in Al-Qaeda's strategy, analysts said.Charles Lister of the Middle East Institute described al-Masri as "jihadi royalty," as a longstanding member of Al-Qaeda's central Shura Council and "one of Ayman al-Zawahiri's closest long-time confidants."