The US Air Force has revealed that the Libyan leader of ISIL was killed by a fighter jet from RAF Lakenheath.

Abu Nabil, aka Wissam Najm Abd Zayd al Zubaydi, an Iraqi national who was a longtime al Qaeda operative and the senior ISIL leader in Libya was killed during a US operation on November 13. ISIL is also known as ISIS, or Islamic State (IS).

A Pentagon spokesman for the US Air Force said 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 United States.'

The spokesman added: 'While not the first U.S. strike against terrorists in Libya, the attack is the first U.S. strike against an ISIL leader in Libya and it demonstrates we will go after ISIL leaders wherever they operate.'

The operation was authorized and initiated prior to the terrorist attack in Paris.

A number of RAF Lakenheath's F-15 fighters, part of the 48th Fighter Wing, were deployed to Incirlik base in Turkey earlier this month.