Senior Al-Qaeda fighter Rifai Ahmad Taha killed in US air strike in Syria

A senior Egyptian al-Qaeda figure fighting in Syria was killed in a US drone strike this week, the latest to be killed in such attacks in Syria, a Syrian opposition monitoring group and relatives said on Friday.

The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Rifai Ahmad Taha was killed in a strike Tuesday in the northwestern Idlib province.

Before joining al-Qaida, Taha was a top figure in Egypt’s notorious militant group Gamaa Islamiya, which massacred 58 foreign tourists in the ancient Egyptian city of Luxor in 1997.

He was also allied with Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan.

The Observatory’s chief Rami Abdurrahman said several al-Qaeda members, including Taha, were killed in Tuesday’s strike. He said one of the dead was identified as Abu Omar al-Masri – which is Arabic for Abu Omar the Egyptian – but that it was not clear if Taha was using that name.

Taha was believed to be in his 60s.

In Egypt, a relative said that Taha’s wife and brother have received confirmation about his death. The relative spoke on condition of anonymity fearing reprisals.

In Washington, Department of Defense spokesman Matthew Allen said the US struck a vehicle killing several al-Qaeda militants. He added that officials are still assessing the strike.

“I can confirm that the US struck a vehicle killing several AQ militants,” said Allen, using an acronym to refer to al-Qaida. “The results of this strike are still being assessed.”

On Wednesday, Syria’s al-Qaida branch known as the Nusra Front confirmed the death of Abu Firas al-Souri, a senior figure in the group, in a US airstrike that also took place in Idlib province.

Al-Souri was killed on Sunday, the group said.

Taha’s relative said dozens of members of Islamic groups were paying condolences today to the family at the home of his brother, Gharib, in the southern Egyptian village of Nagaa Dunqal.

According to the relative, Taha had told his family he believes he is being followed and just three days before his death he called his brother from Syria to tell him that the Americans are monitoring his movements.

Taha was jailed in 2001 in Egypt under the rule of then-President Hosni Mubarak after being detained in Syria and handed over to Cairo.

He was released after the long-serving leader was removed from power in 2011.