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| Syrian Islamist rebel leader Abu Mohammed al-Jolani 'killed' | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| Syrian state TV says the head of the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has been killed in western Syria. | Syrian state TV says the head of the al-Qaeda linked al-Nusra Front, Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, has been killed in western Syria. |
| Details are unclear but the report said he had been killed in the coastal province of Latakia. | Details are unclear but the report said he had been killed in the coastal province of Latakia. |
| There has been no independent verification of the claim. | There has been no independent verification of the claim. |
| The group has emerged as one of the most powerful rebel groups since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began in March 2011. | |
| It first announced its existence in a video in January 2012 and has said it was behind many of the suicide bombings that have rocked the country. | |
| The group is believed to have led numerous attacks against government targets, including the capture of a key airbase in the north. | |
| In response to the bombing campaign the US designated al-Nusra as a terrorist organisation. | |
| Correspondents say that, if confirmed, al-Jolani's death would be a major coup for the Syrian government. | |
| It brands all the rebels fighting against it "terrorists" including mainstream groups backed by the West and Arab states. | |
| Fighters from al-Nusra were reported to be among some 20 rebels killed in an ambush by government forces near the capital Damascus on Friday. | |
| The ambush happened in the Eastern Ghouta region, scene of August's poison gas attack that prompted a UN Security Council resolution calling for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons arsenal. | |
| State TV broadcast images showing bodies of men lying in an open area near a small river, along with scattered automatic rifles and hand grenades. A caption read: "Eastern Ghouta is a graveyard of terrorists''. | |
| "It was a highly accurate operation. `We will be moving from one victory to another," an army officer told state-run Al-Ikhbariya TV. | |
| UK-based activist group the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said at least 20 fighters were killed in the ambush but gave no further details. |