US airstrikes in Syria target Khorasan Group

Washington: US military forces conducted airstrikes Wednesday night against five targets of Khorasan Group near Sarmada, Syria, and the al Qaeda-affiliated group was plotting to attack in Europe or the US homeland, the US Central Command said Thursday.

Khorasan Group is a term used to refer to a network of Nusrah Front and al Qaeda core extremists who share a history of training operatives, facilitating fighters and money, and planning attacks against US and Western targets.

Initial indications were that it had the intended results, striking terrorists and destroying several vehicles, as well as bomb-making and training facilities, Xinhua quoted the Central Command as saying in a statement, without specifying the exact target of the strikes.

The airstrikes, which involved US bomber, fighter and remotely piloted aircraft, were "decisive action to protect our interests and remove their capability to act," it said.

The US military made clear the strikes were specifically directed at Khorasan instead of more broadly at Nusra Front. "The strikes were not in response to the Nusrah Front's clashes with the Syrian moderate opposition, they (Central Command officials) added, and did not target the Nusrah Front as a whole", the statement said.