Send this page to someone via email

U.S. military officials say an Islamic State leader linked to the 2015 attacks at the French satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo was killed in a U.S. airstrike in Syria.

Officials say Boubaker el Hakim was killed in Raqqa on November 26. He is believed to have played a role in IS attack planning. The officials weren’t authorized to discuss the strike publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

El Hakim was a 33-year-old French Tunisian. He was a mentor to the brothers who gunned down cartoonists at the French paper in January 2015. He was arrested in Syria and sent to France, where he was convicted in 2008 and sentenced to seven years in prison. He was released in 2011 and is believed to have moved to Tunisia.

WATCH: (Jan. 05) Jeff Semple reports on a city that is still finding its way through the grief one year after the Charlie Hebdo attack.

2:34 Paris marks one year since Charlie Hebdo attacks Paris marks one year since Charlie Hebdo attacks

Story continues below advertisement