‘Precision strikes’ in Syria kill IS leader linked to beheading of American aid worker Peter Kassig
- Peter Kassig, aged 26 at the time of his death, was among a group of prisoners decapitated by jihadists in November 2014
- US had reason to suspect that jihadist Abu al-Umarayn posed an ‘immediate threat’ to coalition forces
An Islamic State group leader involved in the execution of American aid worker Peter Kassig and other Western prisoners was targeted in a strike by the US-led anti-jihadist coalition in Syria.
Kassig, aged 26 at the time of his death, was among a group of prisoners decapitated by jihadists in November 2014.
Kassig, who changed his name to Abdul-Rahman Kassig after he converted to Islam while in Islamic State captivity, was executed the year after he was taken hostage in Syria.
His captors released a video showing his decapitated head beside his body but did not include scenes of the actual execution, unlike with the other hostages they killed.
Colonel Sean Ryan, a US military spokesman, identified the Islamic State commander as Abu al-Umarayn and said he was killed in “precision strikes” in a desert area known as Badiya.
The coalition had reason to suspect that Umarayn posed an “immediate threat” to coalition forces in the area, Ryan said.