A top Isis leader has been killed by a coalition air strike in Iraq, the Pentagon has confirmed.
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Iraq had falsely reported Wahib’s death in the past, but Cook said, “we’re confident that this was a successful strike and I’ll leave it at that”.
Abu Wahib and three others were killed when their vehicle was struck on May 6 in Rutba, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
He added that Wahib’s death “is another blow to ISIL’s leadership that will further degrade it’s ability to operate, especially in Anbar province”.
Last week, a Navy SEAL was killed in Iraq as the USA military stepped up its role helping Christian and Kurdish militias battling ISIS near the terror group’s stronghold in Mosul. “It is risky to be an ISIL leader in Iraq and Syria these days, and for good reason we want to apply pressure [on] ISIL on as many fronts as possible”.
Global warplanes carried out an airstrike on IS positions in south of the IS-held city of Fallujah, some 50 km west of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad, leaving 14 IS militants killed, the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity.
Abu Wahib, also known as Shaqir Wahib al Fadhawi, is understood to have been the man in a 2013 video who quizzed truck drivers and executed three who failed to prove they were Sunni Muslims.
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In February, US special operations forces captured Sulayman Dawud al-Bakkar, also known as Abu Dawud, who was described as a chemical weapons expert.
