Al-Masri is believed to have died on July 28 in a suspected US missile strike [AP

Al-Masri, who carried a $5m bounty on his head, had been earlier identified as the likely target of the attack on a house in Pakistan's South Waziristan region, a tribal area bordering Afghanistan, according to Pakistani officials.

An al-Qaeda statement posted on a variety of websites on Sunday said al-Masri, referred to as the chemical "expert", had left behind him a generation of students who would avenge his killing.

The statement, signed by al-Qaeda's leader in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazid, named three other fighters killed alongside al-Masri on July 28. It said some of their children also died.

Abdel Bari al-Atwan, editor-in-chief of al-Quds Al Arabi newspaper, said al-Masri "represented the old guard of al-Qaeda, so it is going to be very difficult to replace him".

"This was a huge success for the Americans in their pursuit of al-Qaeda leaders," he said.

"Al-Qaeda usually replace these people in this situations, but actually, they won't have the people with the determination and expertise of this man.

"He managed to experiment a lot with chemical and biological weapons in the Tora Bora area.

"Maybe he has disciples, but there's no one with his skills. He knows the ideology of al-Qaeda very well and I don't believe he will be easily replaced by other people."

Al-Masri, a 55-year-old Egyptian chemist, was regarded as one of the group's senior bomb makers.

The statement said he had left behind him a generation of so-called students who would avenge his killing.

On Saturday, a Pakistani Taliban spokesman denied a US media report that Ayman al-Zawahri, al-Qaeda's deputy leader, had been wounded or killed in what was believed to be the same US missile strike that killed Masri.

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