“The jihadist Abu Maria al-Qahtani was killed and four others were seriously injured… as the result of a suicide bomber detonating an explosive belt in his guesthouse in the town of Sarmada,” stated the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights (SOHR).
Qahtani, whose real name is Maysar Ali Musa Abdallah Al-Juburi, was brought to hospital with severe injuries and died there, Reuters reported, citing jihadist sources.
Qahtani, 47, was born in Mosul. He fought against United States forces after their invasion of Iraq in 2003. In 2011, he moved to Syria and was a co-founder of the Nusra Front, an offshoot of al-Qaeda. The group rebranded itself as Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) when it split from al-Qaeda and currently controls rebel-held northwestern Syria.
He has been under US sanctions since 2012
There has been no immediate claim of responsibility, but HTS has blamed the Islamic State (ISIS) for Qahtani’s death.
Last year, Qahtani was detained by HTS on the charge of communicating with “hostile parties,” according to SOHR. He was released last month.
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