WASHINGTON -- The Pentagon said on Saturday a senior leader of the extremist group Islamic State(IS) in Libya was killed in an air strike conducted on Friday night.

The US military conducted the airstrike on Friday in Libya targetting Abu Nabil, also known as Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, an Iraqi national who was a longtime al Qaeda operative and senior IS leader in Libya, said a Pentagon statement.

Calling it the first US strike against IS leaders in Libya, the statement said Nabil's death will degrade IS's ability to meet the group's objectives in Libya, including recruiting new IS members, establishing bases in Libya, and planning external attacks on the United States.

The operation was authorized and initiated prior to the attacks in Paris, the statement added.