MOSCOW: Russia's military said on Thursday the leader of an al-Qaida linked militant group in Syria, who had been reportedly injured in a Russian airstrike, has fallen into a coma.
Russian jets have been bombing positions of the al-Qaida-linked Levant Liberation Committee in the Idlib province for two straight days, killing seven militant commanders and dozens of fighters on Wednesday and destroying a major ammunition depot at a militant-controlled air base, the Russian Defense Ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
The Russian military also quoted its intelligence saying the group's leader Abu Mohammed al-Golani, who was reportedly injured in a Russian airstrike on Tuesday, is in coma. The al-Qaida-linked group on Wednesday denied that its leader had been injured, saying that al-Golani is in excellent health and is carrying on with his tasks normally.
Moscow blamed the al-Qaida-linked group for an attack on Russian military police near Idlib last month. Three Russian troops were wounded after the militants encircled 29 Russian military officers for several hours during an insurgent offensive. The Russian troops repelled the attack with the help of local tribes.