Bombing kills co-founder of Syria's main al-Qaida-linked group, once known as Nusra Front
suicide bomber set off his explosives late on Thursday in northwestern Syria, killing the co-founder of the country's main al-Qaida-linked group that controls much of the northwest, a war monitor said. Some activists disputed the source of the explosion, saying instead that a remotely detonated bomb killed Abu Maria al-Qahtani, whose real name was Maysara al-Jubouri. Al-Qahtani co-founded the Nusra Front in Syria, a militant group that later renamed itself Hayat Tahrir al-Sham and claimed it had severed ties with al-Qaida.
The conflicting accounts could not immediately be reconciled.
According to the Britain-based Observatory for Human Rights, a war monitor with a network of activists on the ground, the bomber entered al-Qahtani's guesthouse in the town of Sarmada in Idlib province late in the evening and detonated his explosives.
The small enclave of northwestern Syria is the country's last rebel-held territory. Hayat Tahrir al-Sham controls the northwestern Idlib province while Turkey-backed opposition groups control northern Aleppo province. Most of the 4.5 million people living in Idlib and Aleppo provinces rely on humanitarian aid to survive, and almost half live in displacement camps
The killing of al-Qahtani came against the backdrop of protests against his group and its leader, Abu Mohammed al-Golani, over the militants' harsh reign over the region and deteriorating economic conditions.
He was released from jail in March after being detained by his own men in August over misuse of social media.
