The leader of Daesh group, 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 Daesh leader to be killed this year at a time when the 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 U.S. 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 Daesh 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 Daesh fighters detonated an explosive belt he was wearing during the clash.
Little had been known about al-Qurayshi, who took over the group’s leadership following the death of his predecessor, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, in a US raid in February in northwest Syria.
None of the al-Qurayshis are believed to be related. Al-Qurayshi is not their real name but comes from Quraish, the name of the tribe to which Islam’s Prophet Muhammad belonged. Daesh claims its leaders hail from this tribe and “al-Qurayshi” serves as part of an Daesh leader’s nom de guerre.—Tolonews
