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US Airstrike Targets IS Leader In Libya

US Airstrike Targets IS Leader In Libya

A US airstrike is believed to have killed an Islamic State leader in Libya, a Pentagon spokesman said.

Abu Nabil and other with him were targeted in the attack on a command and control centre near the eastern port city of Darnah, according to a US official, who was speaking on condition of anonymity.

Two F-15 fighter jets carried out the airstrike took place as a number of gunmen killed 129 people in a series of shootings and bombings in Paris .

The attack had been planned for some time and aircraft were already in the air when news of the atrocities broke, the official said.

Nabil, also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, was an Iraqi national who was an al Qaeda operative before becoming the senior Islamic State leader in Libya.

Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said Nabil's death "will degrade ISIL's ability to meet the group's objectives in Libya, including recruiting new ISIL members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States".

The airstrike came the day after the IS killer known 'Jihadi John' was likely killed in a US drone strike in Raqqa, Syria.

The Briton - real name Mohammed Emwazi - appeared in the beheading videos of UK hostages Alan Henning and David Haines, US journalists James Foley and Steven Sotloff, aid worker Abdul-Rahman Kassig and Japanese journalist Kenji Goto.

Activists in the IS stronghold said they counted 14 airstrikes between 11.51pm and midnight on Thursday.

They reported one of the first missiles targeted a car near the city's Islamic court - but the area was closed off by militants to prevent anyone from approaching.

A Pentagon spokesman said it was "reasonably certain" Emwazi had been killed by a Hellfire missile.