Washington, Sep 23 (IANS): A French-born explosives expert with links to Al Qaeda was killed in a US-led coalition airstrike in Syria in July, the Pentagon has said.

David Drugeon, an explosives expert from Al Qaeda affiliated Khorasan group, was killed in an air strike near the Syrian city of Aleppo on July 5, Xinhua news agency quoted a Pentagon statement as saying on Tuesday.

Accusing Drugeon of training other militants in Syria and seeking to plan attacks against western targets, the statement said the death would "degrade and disrupt ongoing external operations of Al Qaeda against the US, and its partners".

Earlier reports said Drugeon and other Al Qaeda explosives experts were experimenting with non-metallic bombs harder to detect.

General Lloyd Austin, the head of the US military's Central Command, had called Drugeon one of Khorasan's "leadership elements and one of the most dangerous elements in that organisation."