Senior US general 'ordered' Twitter announcement of drone strike on major al Qaeda leader

A senior officer of the US forces ordered that his command should make an announcement on Twitter that a senior al Qaeda leader had been targeted by an American drone strike in Syria earlier this month. However, the senior general in charge of US forces in the Middle East did not confirm who was actually killed in the strike.

According to CNN, the US Central Command — even after nearly three weeks — still does not know whether a civilian died instead.

“CENTCOM did not open a review of the incident, officially known as a civilian-casualty credibility assessment report, until May 15 – twelve days after the strike. That review is ongoing,” CNN reported.

A defense official has said that some of CENTCOM Commander General Erik Kurilla’s subordinates have urged him to hold off on the tweet until there was more clarity on who was actually killed.

“At 11:42 am local Syrian time on 3 May, US Central Command Forces conducted a unilateral strike in Northwest Syria targeting a senior Al Qaeda leader. We will provide more information as operational details become available,” read the post.

(With inputs from agencies)

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