ERBIL, Kurdistan Region of Iraq - The US military announced late Tuesday that its forces killed a senior member of an al-Qaeda affiliated group in an airstrike in Syria. 

“On Oct. 2, U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM) forces conducted an airstrike in Syria that resulted in the death of a senior Al-Qaeda affiliated attack planner,” CENTCOM said in a statement.

It identified the target as Muhammad ‘Abd al-Wahhab al-Ahmad, saying he was a member of Ansar al-Islam, an al-Qaeda affiliated group.

Jama’at Ansar al-Islam (JAI) was a predominantly Sunni Kurdish jihadist group active in Iraq and Syria formed in 2007. The group announced its dissolution and its subsequent integration into Syria’s Ministry of Defense in January. 

“U.S. forces in the Middle East remain postured to disrupt and defeat efforts by terrorists to plan, organize, and conduct attacks,” CENTCOM commander Admiral Brad Cooper said. “We will continue to defend our homeland, warfighters, allies and partners throughout the region and beyond.”

CENTCOM has carried out numerous airstrikes on al-Qaeda and Islamic State (ISIS) operatives in Syria in recent years, 

In September, a joint raid by US forces and the Iraqi army killed Omar Abdel Qader Bassam, a senior ISIS leader in Syria.