DUBAI, Dec 8: A US air strike in Pakistan has killed an Al Qaeda leader, Khaled bin Abdel Rahman, the group announced on Friday night.

The militant, also known as Abu Zaid al-Kuwaiti, was killed when he was having dinner, the group said in a brief statement posted on several websites.

“We announce the martyrdom of Sheikh Khaled who died as he was having his sohur meal and we pray to God to accept him in heaven,” the statement said.

US television network NBC News quoted terrorism experts as saying that the militant, a 46-year-old Kuwaiti, was a second generation leader of Al Qaeda.

They said he was among those who could have replaced Ayman al-Zawahiri as head of the extremist network, adding that the militant had been killed in a drone attack. —Agencies