Killed, fanatic who radicalised Jihadi John

AN AL Qaeda operative thought to have had knowledge of the group’s most infamous attacks has been killed in an air strike, according to officials.

Muhsin al-Fadhli – who is said to have been involved in radicalising the British extremist known as Jihadi John – was killed in a US aerial attack while travelling near the Syrian town of Sarmada on July 8. The 34-year-old ‘was a senior Al Qaeda facilitator’ who was among the few trusted leaders to receive advanced notification of the 9/11 attacks, said Pentagon spokesman Jeff Davis.

The Kuwait native – a long-time US target said to have had strong ties to Osama Bin Laden – was the leader of the Khorasan Group, around 50 senior Al Qaeda fighters sent to Syria to plot attacks on the West.

News of the secretive group emerged last year, though some analysts have suggested al-Fadhli was not its real leader. Mustafa Alani, program director of Security and Terrorism Studies at the Gulf Research Center, said: ‘He’s more a preacher then a commander.’