US renews strikes on Khorasan group in Syria: military

WASHINGTON - Agence France-Presse

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American warplanes have carried out another air strike on the Khorasan group in northwest Syria, the latest of several raids on the Al-Qaeda offshoot, the US military said Nov. 19.
      
US aircraft "struck and destroyed a storage facility associated with a network of veteran Al-Qaeda operatives, sometimes called the 'Khorasan Group,' whose members are plotting external attacks against the United States and its allies," Central Command said in a statement.        

The air raid took place over the past 24 hours, officials said.
      
The group has been hit by US forces in three previous strikes -- once in September at the start of air raids in Syria against the Islamic State group, and twice this month, according to Central Command, which is overseeing the air war.        

A French bomb-maker was believed to have been killed in one of the strikes this month.
      
The Khorasan group had been an obscure cell until US intelligence officials called attention to it in September, days before dozens of Tomahawk cruise missiles were launched from naval ships against the militants near Aleppo.
      
US officials say the group includes Al-Qaeda operatives from Afghanistan and Pakistan who made their way to Syria.        

Some analysts say the militants are essentially part of Al-Nusra Front, which is Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch.
      
Apart from the strike on Khorasan, US and allied aircraft since Monday have targeted the IS group near the northern Syrian town of Kobane in five air raids and attacked a crude oil collection point near Al-Hasakah, Central Command said.
      
In Iraq, coalition forces conducted 13 air strikes near Kirkuk, seven near Mosul, three near Baiji and one near Fallujah, according to Central Command.