A military airstrike in northwest Syria has killed the leader of a shadowy Qaeda cell that American officials say has been plotting attacks against the United States and Europe, the Pentagon announced on Sunday.<br />The leader, Sanafi al-Nasr, a Saudi national, was the highest-ranking leader of a network of some two dozen veteran Qaeda operatives called the Khorasan Group and the fifth senior member of the group to be killed in the past four months.<br />His death was announced in a Pentagon statement describing Thursday’s operation, which American officials said was a drone strike.<br />Mr. Nasr, whose full name was Abdul Mohsen Adballah Ibrahim al Charekh, was a longtime militant experienced in funneling money and fighters for Al Qaeda, said Peter Cook, the Pentagon press secretary.
