Islamic State says leader killed in battle, announces replacement
- Isis leader Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi killed in operation by Syrian rebels
- Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi named as terror group’s new leader
The leader of Islamic State, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was killed in battle recently, the group’s spokesman said in audio released Wednesday. He gave no further details.
Al-Qurayshi is the second Isis leader to be killed this year at a time when the extremist group has been trying to rise again with its sleeper cells carrying out deadly attacks in Iraq and Syria. Its affiliate in Afghanistan also claimed attacks that killed dozens in recent months.
The US military said al-Qurayshi was killed in mid-October adding that the operation was conducted by Syrian rebels in Syria’s southern province of Daraa. It was not clear why the announcement was made on Wednesday, more than a month after al-Qurayshi was killed.
“Isis remains a threat to the region,” the US Central Command said. “CENTCOM and our partners remain focused on the enduring defeat of Isis.”
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor, reported in mid-October, that Syrian rebels who had earlier reconciled with the government killed a group of Isis fighters in the southern village of Jassem in Daraa province.
They included a commander identified as an Iraqi citizen along with a Lebanese fighter and others, the observatory said, adding that one of the Isis fighters detonated an explosive belt he was wearing during the clash.