Prominent jihadist leader in northwest Syria killed in suicide bombing

“Abu Maria al-Qahtani was martyred after a treacherous attack by an Islamic State group member using an explosive belt,” said former al-Qaeda affiliate Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), which rules Syria’s last main rebel bastion, on its affiliated Amjad media outlet.

Qahtani, whose real name is Maysar Ali Musa Abdallah al-Juburi, “was killed and two of his companions seriously injured after a suicide bomber blew himself up,” said the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor.

The Observatory, with a network of sources in Syria, did not provide further details about the identity of the suicide bomber.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for Qahtani’s killing.

Qahtani was one of HTS’s most powerful jihadists and one of the founders of the group’s former iteration: al-Nusra front.

HTS rules over about half of Idlib province and parts of neighbouring Hama, Aleppo and Latakia.

Read more: France 24