Summary An attack targeting leaders of the jihadist Al-Nusra Front in Syria killed several Al Qaeda leaders.
BEIRUT (AFP) - An attack targeting leaders of the jihadist Al-Nusra Front in Syria on Thursday killed several leaders of the Al Qaeda affiliate in the northwestern province of Idlib, a monitor said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said "a number of Al-Nusra Front leaders were killed" in the attack as they gathered for a meeting, but was unable to say if its chief, Abu Mohamed al-Jolani, was among them.
"It s not clear if the attack was carried out by the coalition or the regime, and there is contradictory information over the fate of Abu Mohamed al-Jolani... amid reports that he was at the place of the attack," Observatory director Rami Abdel Rahman told AFP.
Abdel Rahman, whose group relies on a network of sources on the ground for its reports, was referring to the US-led coalition carrying out air strikes against jihadists in Iraq and Syria since last year, and the regime of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Thursday s attack came after Al-Nusra Front overran Base 46 -- the main operations centre of the Western-backed Hazm movement in the neighbouring province of Aleppo.
