ISIS flag
Reuters
A top Islamic State (ISIS) leader in Iraq's Anbar province has been killed by a coalition airstrike, the Pentagon said Monday, according to a report in CBS News.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the man, Abu Wahib, was killed along with three others when their vehicle was struck on May 6 in Rutba.
Cook added that Wahib's death is a blow to the group's leadership, adding he was a former member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and has appeared in ISIS execution videos.
A senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the airstrike in question was an American airstrike.
There had been unconfirmed reports in the past suggesting Wahib was targeted by strikes, but Monday marked the first time the Pentagon said he was killed, according to CBS News.
The airstrike is the latest in several recent such attacks targeting ISIS officials.
A drone strike last month near ISIS’s de facto capital in Syria, Raqa, killed Abu al-Hija, a jihadist commander heading to Aleppo province on orders from the organization’s chief.
A week earlier, American forces killed ISIS deputy leader Abd ar-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli. Another recent killing was that of the group's most notorious commanders, Omar al-Shishani, known as ISIS’s “defense minister”.
Last week, a Navy SEAL was killed in Iraq as the U.S. military stepped up its role helping Christian and Kurdish militias battling ISIS near the terror group's stronghold in Mosul.
He was identified as 31-year-old Charlie Keating IV.
Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said the man, Abu Wahib, was killed along with three others when their vehicle was struck on May 6 in Rutba.
Cook added that Wahib's death is a blow to the group's leadership, adding he was a former member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq and has appeared in ISIS execution videos.
A senior U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity said the airstrike in question was an American airstrike.
There had been unconfirmed reports in the past suggesting Wahib was targeted by strikes, but Monday marked the first time the Pentagon said he was killed, according to CBS News.
The airstrike is the latest in several recent such attacks targeting ISIS officials.
A drone strike last month near ISIS’s de facto capital in Syria, Raqa, killed Abu al-Hija, a jihadist commander heading to Aleppo province on orders from the organization’s chief.
A week earlier, American forces killed ISIS deputy leader Abd ar-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli. Another recent killing was that of the group's most notorious commanders, Omar al-Shishani, known as ISIS’s “defense minister”.
Last week, a Navy SEAL was killed in Iraq as the U.S. military stepped up its role helping Christian and Kurdish militias battling ISIS near the terror group's stronghold in Mosul.
He was identified as 31-year-old Charlie Keating IV.
