(MENAFN- Jordan News Agency) The United States Department of Defense (Pentagon) said an American drone strike killed, Ali Awni al-Harzi, a midlevel operative with the Daesh terror group, who had been a conduit for the militant group's outreach to extremists in North Africa.

Pentagon's spokesman Col. Steve Warren said Tariq bin al-Tahar bin al-Falih al-Awni al-Harzi was killed in Mosul, northern Iraq.

Al-Harzi was a leading suspect in the Sept. 11, 2012 attack on the American diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, killing U.S. Ambassador Christopher Steven and three other Americans.

Al-Harzi was killed on June 15, according to the Pentagon. He had operated closely with extremist groups throughout North Africa and the Middle East.

"His death," Warren said, "degrades Daesh's ability to integrate North African jihadists into the fight in the Middle East".