Al-Qaeda's deputy leader killed by drone strike in Syria

The second-in-command of al-Qaeda has been killed in a US drone strike in Syria. 

If the death of Abu al-Khair al-Masri is confirmed it would be a major blow to the terror group and the biggest loss to its leadership since the killing of Osama bin Laden in 2011. 

Neither al-Qaeda nor the US has officially confirmed that the 59-year-old Egyptian terrorist was killed by an American strike in Idlib province on Sunday. 

But reports of his death spread widely among terrorist groups and social media accounts, according to the SITE Intelligence Group.

Sherif Hazzaa, an Egyptian terrorist, said that al-Masri was dead and that he had spoken to him only a few days before in Syria. “He told me days ago: I do not carry my gun because I'm expecting to be targeted by a plane,” Hazzaa said on Twitter. 

Photographs circulating on social media purported to show the car that al-Masri was driving in when he was killed. They showed a grey car with its roof blown open by an apparent strike from above. 

At least one bodyguard was also reported to have been killed in the strike.

If al-Masri is dead it would mark a bloody end to a long career in terrorism and a significant loss for al-Qaeda not just in Syria but in its global operations.

Multiple reports that a drone strike in Idlib killed Abu Khayr al-Masri, deputy leader of Al-Qaeda (second in command to Ayman al-Zawahiri).

He was married to one of bin Laden’s daughters and ran a guesthouse in Afghanistan where elements of the September 11 attacks were planned, according to the Soufan Group intelligence group.