The professed leader of the Sunni militant group Abdullah Azzam Brigades, Majid al-Majid, died on Saturday due to kidney failure after being detained in Lebanon, the Associated Press reported
The Azzam Brigades are linked with al-Qaida and have grown in numbers and power since al-Majid took over in mid-2012, according to the AP.
The brigades have claimed responsibility for numerous attacks, including the bombing of a Japanese oil tanker in 2010 in the Persian Gulf, as well as sending rocket strikes into Israel, the AP reported.
The brigades began attacking Shiite Hezbollah groups and regions after they backed Syrian President Bashar Assad in his fight against Syrian rebels, according to the AP.
In their most recent attack, the group carried out a double suicide bombing in November outside the Iranian Embassy in Beirut and killed 23 people wounding dozens more, the AP reported. The group has been deemed a terrorist organization by the United States since 2012.
According to state-run National News Agency al-Majid passed "after his health conditions deteriorated," but a Lebanese army general told the AP on conditions of anonymity that al-Majid died after going through kidney failure which he needed constant dialysis for.
Reports released earlier this week by Lebanon officials stated they have an al-Qaida linked suspect in custody but were waiting on DNA test results to confirm his identity on Friday, the AP reported.
Lebanese newspapers states al-Majid was taken by Lebanese officials in December while he was travelling to the eastern Syrian border by ambulance after being treated with dialysis for his kidney problems in a Beirut hospital, according to the AP. After being captured, the 85th most wanted person in Saudi Arabia was kept at a secret location where he died.
