ISIS second-in-command 'killed in US-led air strike', says Iraq defence ministry

 
Abu Alaa al-Afari (Picture: US State Department)
Sebastian Mann13 May 2015

The second most senior member of ISIS has been killed in a US-led air strike on a mosque, the Iraq defence ministry claimed today.

Abu Alaa al-Afari, who was second in command to self-proclaimed Islamic State caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was said to have been meeting other militants in northern Iraq when coalition forces struck.

"Based on accurate intelligence, an air strike by the coalition forces targeted the second in command of IS, Abu Alaa al-Afari," the ministry said in a statement release through its website today.

It also posted footage of the strike on the "Martrys Mosque" in the village of al-Iyadhiya near Tel Afar, where Afari was said to be a teacher and well-known preacher.

The US defense department said it was aware of the reports but could not confirm them.

First in command Baghdadi was recently reported to have been incapacitated by a coalition air strike in the same part of Iraq, with Afari tipped to assume leadership of the organisation, but the Pentagon has disputed reports.

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