IS confirms death of 'number two' commander in US air strike
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BEIRUT: The spokesman of the self-styled Islamic State (IS) confirmed on Tuesday the killing of the extremist organisation's second-in-command in a US air strike earlier in August.
“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.
Read: US air strike kills 'IS number two': White House
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 a “caliphate” straddling both countries.
Also read: ISIS declares ‘caliphate’
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.”
Like many senior Iraqi insurgents, before joining the IS group, Hayali had been a member of Al-Qaeda's Iraqi faction and was reportedly a former Iraqi officer from the era of Saddam Hussain.
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.
