F-15 strike kills Daesh head in Libya

An F-15 fighter jet strike killed the head of the Daesh group in Libya, the Pentagon said Saturday, in another high-profile US hit following the targeting of the most-wanted ‘Jihadi John’.

The announcement comes as the extremist group said it was responsible for Friday's attacks in Paris that killed at least 129 people during an onslaught of bombings and shootings on the French capital, though the Pentagon said the two events were not connected.

Washington has orchestrated an air campaign going after the IS group and senior figures in Syria and Iraq, but this is the first US strike against a Daesh leader in Libya.

Abu Nabil, also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi, was the senior leader in Libya and may also have been the spokesman in a grisly video showing the execution of Coptic Christians, Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said in a statement.

Cook described Abu Nabil as an Iraqi national and Al-Qaeda operative.

Saturday's US announcement came two days after the US military conducted a strike targeting the executioner known as ‘Jihadi John’.