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A senior Islamic State (IS) group leader in Iraq and Syria has been killed in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister has said.<\/p>\n
Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, also known as Abu Khadijah, “was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world”, according to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.<\/p>\n
US President Donald Trump said “he was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters”.<\/p>\n
The US Central Command (Centcom) said it conducted a “precision airstrike” in Iraq’s western Al Anbar province, which killed “one of the most important” IS members on Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Rifai was the head of IS’s most senior decision-making body and was responsible for operations, logistics, and planning conducted by IS globally, the US Central Command said.<\/p>\n
He also directed a large portion of finance for the group’s global organisation, Centcom added.<\/p>\n
Posting on his Truth Social platform, President Trump said: “His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”<\/p>\n
Rifai was found dead alongside one other IS operative, Centcom said.<\/p>\n
“Both terrorists were wearing unexploded ‘suicide vests’ and had multiple weapons,” it added.<\/p>\n
Centcom and Iraqi forces were able to identify him through a DNA match from DNA collected on a previous raid where he “narrowly escaped”, it added.<\/p>\n
Gen Michael Erik Kurilla said Rifai “was one of the most important IS members in the entire global IS organisation. <\/p>\n
“We will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and US, allied and partner personnel in the region and beyond.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
IS once held 88,000sq km (34,000sq miles) of territory stretching from north-eastern Syria across northern Iraq and imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.<\/p>\n
Iraq declared the defeat of IS in December 2017 and the group was driven from its last piece of territory in 2019.<\/p>\n
However militants and sleeper cells continue to have a presence in various parts of the country and carry out sporadic attacks against Iraq’s army and police.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n