Abu Khaled al-Sur was a veteran al-Qaeda operative who had fought in Afghanistan and Iraq (BBC)
Abu Khalid al Suri, the leader of Al-Qaeda in Syria, was killed in a suicide attack in Aleppo. The Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), an opposition terrorist group, was implicated in the bombing.
The Long War Journal reported:
Abu Khalid al Suri, whose real name is Mohamed Bahaiah, has been reportedly killed in a suicide attack in Aleppo. Al Suri’s death has been confirmed on several Twitter feeds managed by Ahrar al Sham and the Islamic Front.
Al Suri, a longtime al Qaeda operative, was a founding member of Ahrar al Sham and a senior leader in the organization at the time of his death. Ahrar al Sham is arguably the most powerful rebel organization within the Islamic Front, a coalition of rebel groups that was formed late last year.
Hassan Abboud, a top official in Ahrar al Sham and the Islamic Front, confirmed al Suri’s “martyrdom” in a Tweet early this morning. The official Twitter feeds for the Islamic Front and Ahrar al Sham say that al Suri was killed along with his “comrades” in a suicide attack at one the Front’s headquarters in Aleppo. And a hashtag commemorating al Suri’s death is already being used on jihadist Twitter pages.
As of this writing, there has been no official claim of responsibility for al Suri’s death. Some reports on social media implicate the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham (ISIS), which was recently disowned by al Qaeda’s general command, as the group responsible for the attack.
Al Suri was a key figure in the dispute between ISIS and other jihadist groups inside Syria, including Ahrar al Sham and the Al Nusrah Front, which is an official branch of al Qaeda.