Iraqi PM announces death of ISIS commander, eight senior ISIS leaders in southern Kirkuk operation

By Shweta Kumari | First Published Oct 22, 2024, 6:03 PM IST

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Tuesday announced that Islamic State's top commander for Iraq was killed in a military operation in the Hamrin Mountains in northeast Iraq.

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani on Tuesday announced that Islamic State's top commander for Iraq was killed in a military operation in the Hamrin Mountains in northeast Iraq, according to Reuters. Iraqi security forces said they killed ISIS’ top leader in the country, alongside eight other “terrorists.”

Counterterrorism forces “killed nine terrorists, among them the so-called (ISIS) governor of Iraq,” the joint security command said in a statement, naming him as Jassim al-Mazrouei Abu Abdel Qader.

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"Iraqi security forces (ISF) conducted precision airstrikes in northeastern Iraq on Oct 14 that killed four members of the terrorist organization ISIS, including a senior leader," the statement said.

"The Iraqi-led strikes were conducted to disrupt and degrade ISIS attack networks in Iraq and were enabled by technical support and intelligence from coalition forces," it added.

Iraqi Security Forces, Partnered With CJTF-OIR, Conducted Targeted Strike that Killed ISIS Senior Leader pic.twitter.com/la04r3nbKT

— U.S. Central Command (@CENTCOM)

ISIS's origins can be traced back to Al-Qaeda's affiliate in Iraq. The militant organization launched a campaign of attacks against US troops and Iraq's Shiite Muslim community in an effort to destabilize the country after the US invaded and overthrew President Saddam Hussein in 2003.

The group became the Islamic State of Iraq after merging with other jihadist groups in 2006 and, in 2010, rebranded itself once again as ISIS under Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The group took large swathes of territory in Iraq and Syria in the following years before being beaten back by various local and international forces. Baghdadi was killed during a US raid in Syria in 2019.

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