BEIRUT (AP) — The No. 2 commander of al-Qaeda-inspired militants battling Lebanese troops was killed in the fighting in recent days, the group said in a statement posted Wednesday on an Islamic website.

Fatah Islam said its deputy commander known as Abu Hureira has been killed in the fighting around a refugee camp in northern Lebanon. The statement gave no details as to the circumstances of his death.

The group said it was bringing the “good news to the Muslims of the martyrdom of a noble brother,” according to the statement.

“We in the Fatah Islam movement and all the true mujahideen, pledge to God to avenge our brother’s blood from the infidels and the renegades,”

The authenticity of the statement, posted on a website which commonly carries messages from al-Qaeda and other militant groups, could not be independently confirmed.

Full Story: USA Today

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