The “alleged head” of the Islamic State (IS) jihadist group was killed on Saturday in Syria in an operation led by Turkish intelligence services, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday.
“The alleged head of Daesh, whose code name was Abu Hussein al-Qurachi, was neutralized in an operation carried out yesterday by MIT [servicios secretos turcos] in Syria,” the Turkish head of state declared in a television interview.
The IS had announced on November 30 the death of its previous leader, Abu Hasan al-Hachimi al-Qurachi, without specifying the circumstances.
He was immediately replaced by Abu Al-Husein al-Huseini al-Qurachi, according to IS.
According to an AFP correspondent in northern Syria, Turkish intelligence services and Turkish-backed local military police surrounded an area near the town of Jindires in the Afrin region (northwest) on Saturday.
Residents of the place questioned by the AFP indicated that an operation was carried out against an abandoned farm that served in the past as an Islamic school.
Turkey has sent troops into northern Syria since 2020 and controls entire areas with the help of Syrian auxiliaries.
deadly attacks
US troops flown in by helicopter attacked an IS chief in northern Syria in mid-April who was planning attacks in Europe and the Middle East.
The United States Central Command indicated that the IS chief, identified as Abd al Hadi Mahmud al Haji Ali, died in the operation.
Suspected IS fighters reportedly killed at least 41 people, 24 of them civilians, on April 16 in Syria.
In the first week of April, US forces said they killed another IS leader accused of planning attacks in Europe, identified as Khalid Aydd Ahmad al Jabouri.
At its height of power, when it controlled large swaths of Iraq and Syria, the IS group claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Europe.
In October 2019, Washington announced the death of IS leader Abu Bakr al Baghdadi in an operation in northwestern Syria.
Despite losing much of the territory it controlled, IS is still carrying out attacks in Syria.