The United States said Thursday that it carried out airstrikes against the al Qaeda-linked Khorasan group in Syria.
The U.S. Central Command said that fighter jets carried out strikes against five Khorasan targets near Sarmada in the Idlib province on Wednesday night, according to Reuters.
"We took decisive action to protect our interests and remove their capability to act," the U.S. Central Command said in a statement. "The al Qaeda militants are taking advantage of the Syrian conflict to advance attacks against Western interests."
The U.S. had launched more than 20 Tomahawk missiles against eight Khorasan targets near Aleppo in north western Syria last month. The U.S. said that the Khorasan group is made up of veteran al Qaeda fighters from the Afghanistan and Pakistan regions, who have formed a cell within the al Qaeda's Syrian branch, Nusra Front.
Military officials said that one of the targets of the airstrikes was David Drugeon, a French militant, who had converted to Islam and joined the group. Officials also believe that he is an expert bomb maker.
General Lloyd Austin, the head of the U.S. military's Central Command, described Drugeon as one of the most dangerous men in the organization.
However, he refused to say whether Drugeon was killed in the airstrikes, revealing that the military was evaluating the fallout of the strikes.
According to the Britain-based monitoring group, The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, the United States' airstrikes against the Nusra Front killed six militants during the attack.
Members of the hard line Ahrar al Sham group, who are fighting against the Assad regime, also said that several missiles hit its compound. The victims were mostly women and children.
However, the U.S. military said that attacks were aimed at the Khorasan group, and not the Nusra Front.
"These strikes weren't specifically targeting any of those other organizations," Army Col. Steve Warren said. "They were targeting the Khorasan group. If a terrorist happens to be a member of both groups, so be it," he said, according to The Associated Press.
