Al-Qaeda member killed in airstrike, statement says

(CNN) - An al Qaeda "military leader" who escaped from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan in 2005 was killed in a recent U.S. air strike, according to a statement posted Thursday on radical Islamic Web sites known to carry messages from al Qaeda.

The statement, which called Abu Abdallah al-Shami a military leader and hero, did not say when or where he was killed.

The statement said al-Shami escaped from the U.S. prison in 2005 with a group of three others, including key al- Qaeda figure Omar al-Faruq. Faruq died in a British airstrike earlier.