Washington, November 15 An F-15 fighter jet strike killed the head of the Islamic State group in Libya, the Pentagon said yesterday, 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 an IS leader in Libya. Abu Nabil, also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi, was the senior IS 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. “Nabil’s death will degrade ISIL’s ability to meet the group’s objectives in Libya, including recruiting new ISIL members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the US,” Cook said. “This is the first US strike against an ISIL leader in Libya and it demonstrates we will go after ISIL leaders wherever they operate.” The Pentagon spokesman said the operation overnight against Abu Nabil was “authorised and initiated prior to the terrorist attack in Paris.”