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Senior leader of Al-Qaida affiliate killed in Syria

Abu Hamman al-Shami was regarded as a top military strategist.

By Ed Adamczyk

DAMASCUS, Syria, March 6 (UPI) -- Abu Hamman al-Shami, senior commander of the Syrian al-Qaida branch al-Nusra Front, was killed in an airstrike.

He died Thursday during a special operation of the Syrian army, which is fighting the Islamic State and al-Nusra in Syria.

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Al-Shami was regarded as al-Nusra's military strategist, and was involved in earlier al-Qaida operations in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was also part of Iraqi al-Qaida leader, Abu Musab al Zarqawi's inner circle, before arriving to lead Syria's militants.

Al-Nusra confirmed his death Thursday, as did SANA, Syria's state news agency.

Al-Shami, also known as al-Farouq al-Suri, died during an airstrike by Syrian forces in Hobait, a town in Syria's Idlib province, regarded as a hotbed of al-Nusra activity. It was one of several airstrikes in the region Thursday; one targeted a meeting of senior leaders, another on a home used as a base of operations.

The U.S.-led coalition striking Islamic State targets in Syria was not involved in the Syrian operation, a spokesman said.

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