Al Qaeda says Bagram escapee killed in U.S. bombing

DUBAI (Reuters) - An al Qaeda field commander who escaped from a U.S. prison in Afghanistan in 2005 was killed in a recent U.S. bombing, an al Qaeda leader said in a statement posted on the Internet on Thursday.

"Al Qaeda announces the martyrdom of one of the heroes and field leaders who performed well in facing the modern crusade, our brother Abu Abdallah al-Shami," Mustafa Abu al-Yazid said in the statement dated July 14 on an Islamist website.

Abu al-Yazid did not say when the U.S. bombing took place or name the region in which Shami, an alias, was killed.

The militant, whose alias indicates that he was born in a Levant country along the eastern Mediterranean, was one of four who escaped from the U.S. military prison in Bagram in 2005. Among the group was Abu Yahya al-Libi, a key al Qaeda figure.

"Since his feet touched the battle field (after the escape) he resumed jihad with stronger zeal ... he had led and took part in several successful military operations," Abu al-Yazid said.

Violence has been at its worst level in Afghanistan since 2006, the bloodiest period since the removal of the al Qaeda-backed Taliban in 2001.

U.S.-led forces toppled the Taliban government after its leaders refused to hand over Osama bin Laden and his top aides to the United States following the September 11, 2001 attacks on U.S. cities.

(Reporting by Inal Ersan, editing by Mary Gabriel)