Beirut, Oct 13: The Islamic State group's spokesman confirmed today
the killing of the jihadist organisation's second in command in a US
air strike earlier this year.
"America is rejoicing over the killing of Abu Mutaz al-Qurashi and
considers this a great victory," Abu Mohamed al-Adnani said in an audio
recording posted on jihadist websites.
"I will not mourn him... he whose only wish was to die in the name
of Allah... he has raised men and left behind heroes who, God willing,
are yet to harm America," he added. Adnani did not say, however, in what
circumstances Qurashi died.
But the White House, in an announcement on August 22, said that Qurashi,
whose real name is Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, was killed on August 18 in a
US air strike near the northern Iraqi city of Mosul. It said the strike
targeted a vehicle and also killed an IS "media operative" known as Abu
Abdullah.
The US National Security Council said at the time that Hayali was IS
leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi's senior deputy. The White House described
Hayali as a member of the IS ruling council, and "a primary coordinator
for moving large amounts of weapons, explosives, vehicles and people
between Iraq and Syria". IS controls large swathes of Syria and
neighbouring Iraq and has set up an Islamic "caliphate" straddling both
countries.
In its August announcement the White House also said that Hayali "was in
charge of ISIL operations in Iraq, where he was instrumental in
planning operations over the past two years, including the ISIL
offensive in Mosul in June 2014," using another name for IS. Like many
senior Iraqi jihadists, before joining the IS group, Hayali had been a
member of Al-Qaeda's Iraqi faction.
He was reportedly a former Iraqi officer from the era of Saddam Hussein.
IS militants launched a devastating offensive in Iraq in June 2014.
Beginning in Mosul, the country's second city and capital of Nineveh
province, they swept security forces aside and eventually overran around
a third of the country.
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