From Sky news

Top Islamic State Leader Killed - US Claims

The US says the attack on the man purported to be the IS second-in-command was part of its strategy of eliminating the IS cabinet.


21:09, UK,Friday 25 March 2016
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By Sky News US Team

A senior Islamic State leader is believed to have been killed in an American raid in Syria, US Defence Secretary Ash Carter has said.

He told reporters the "well-known terrorist", Haji Imam, also known as Abdul Rahman Mustafa al Qaduli, was the group's finance minister.

He is purported to be the IS second-in-command.

Mr Carter also said the death of IS' so-called defence minister, Omar al Shishani, had finally been confirmed after an airstrike this month.

US officials previously announced the death of the militant, also known as Omar the Chechen, but claims later emerged that he had only been wounded.
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Mr Carter told a Pentagon news conference on Friday morning that the US was "systematically eliminating" the IS cabinet.

"Leaders can be replaced," he said. "However, these leaders have been around for a long time.

"They are senior, they are experienced."

The Defence Secretary refused to say whether al Qaduli had been targeted by an airstrike or ground forces, or even whether it happened in Iraq or Syria.

Two senior defence officials told US media an American special forces team killed al Qaduli in a pre-dawn raid on Thursday in Syria.

Joined by the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Joseph Dunford, Mr Carter said the death of al Qaduli would hamper the group's operational ability.

But Gen Dunford cautioned that the group is far from being defeated.
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"The momentum is in our favour," he told reporters, "but by no means would I say that we are about to break the back of ISIS and that the fight is over."

The US military has killed a number of Islamic State leaders in recent months.

According to the US Department of Justice, al Qaduli, a former physics teacher, joined al Qaeda in 2004.

He became the deputy of now-deceased al Qaeda in Iraq leader Abu Musab al Zarqawi.

Al Qaduli joined Islamic State after his release from prison in early 2012 and travelled to Syria.

In May 2014, the US government named him a Specially Designated Global Terrorist.

It placed a $7m bounty on his head.

The Iraqi-born militant was reported killed last year after an airstrike on a mosque.
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