Zawahiri’s Representative Killed in Syria Suicide Blast

Local Editor

Al-Qaeda's representative in Syria was killed Sunday in a suicide bombing, the so-called Islamic Front announced on its Twitter account.

Abu Khalid al-Souri, who was appointed last year by al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri as his representative, died in the northern city of Aleppo, said the group.
The so-called front has been locked in battle with the so-called "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant" [ISIL].

Al-Souri was a commander of Ahrar al-Sham movement, one of the main groups in the Islamic Front alliance.
His death in a suicide bombing in al-Halq area of Aleppo was also confirmed by the "Syrian Observatory for Human Rights" and on extremist websites.

Observatory chief Rami Abdel Rahman said he died along with six comrades when an extremist from the ISIL group blew himself up at an Ahrar al-Sham post in al-Halq.
Al-Souri fought in Afghanistan and Iraq and "was known to be close to Osama bin Laden," the al-Qaeda founder who was killed by US troops in Pakistan in 2011.

The websites also described al-Souri as a "travelling companion of Sheikh al-Zawahiri" and "among the companions of Sheikh Osama bin Laden."
Last year, Zawahiri ruled that ISIL and al-Qaeda's affiliate in Syria, al-Nusra Front, should operate as separate entities after the head of ISIL announced a merger of the two groups.

At the time Zawahiri appointed al-Souri as his representative in Syria to arbitrate on any issues resulting from the cancellation of the merger of the two factions.

ISIL, which grew from al-Qaeda's onetime Iraqi affiliate, is facing a backlash from an array of armed groups brigades and rival opposition fighters.

The group has ignored Zawahiri's orders to return to Iraq.

Earlier this month, al-Qaeda cemented its split with ISIL as infighting between the armed groups increased.
"Al-Qaeda announces it is not linked to the "Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant", as it was not informed of its creation... [and] did not accept it," a statement said.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team