CAIRO, Mar 4, 2017: Al-Qaida confirmed on Thursday that a U.S.-led coalition drone strike had killed senior leader Abu al-Khayr al-Masri, in a joint statement issued by the militant group's Maghreb and Arabian Peninsula branches.

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A Hellfire missile fired by a CIA drone killed the al-Qaeda leader late on Sunday while he was riding in a car near the northwestern Syrian city of Idlib, a U.S. intelligence official said on Wednesday.

Al-Masri was second-in-command to the group's leader, Ayman al-Zawahiri, and a member of its shura council, said the official. (VOA)