Both the United States and Russian Federation claimed credit on Wednesday for the death of ISIL spokesman and top strategist Abu Mohamed Al Adnani.
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Russia’s claim that it killed the Islamic State spokesman and top strategist al-Adnani is a “joke”, and the strike was conducted by a U.S. Predator drone, American officials said Wednesday. The statement was also posted on the ministry’s Twitter and Facebook accounts in both English and Russian.
“He has coordinated the movement of ISIL fighters, directly encouraged lone-wolf attacks on civilians and members of the military, and actively recruited new ISIL members”, Cook added.
Meanwhile, ISIS announced Tuesday their leader Adnani has been killed and it was highest-profile killing until now of their member.
So-called Islamic State has released several audio files online in which Al-Adnani delivered sermons urging followers to carry out attacks.
A USA defence official, who declined to be named, described Adnani as one of IS’s most senior leaders and far more significant than simply the group’s spokesman.
“I’m not in a position to confirm any facts related to any kind of Russian involvement in the operation that was carried out yesterday targeting Mr.al-Adnani”, he said.
“We don’t have any information to support what the Russians put forward”, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said.
A USA counter-terrorism official who monitors Islamic State said Adnani’s death would hurt the militants “in the area that increasingly concerns us as the group loses more and more of its caliphate and its financial base. and turns to mounting and inspiring more attacks in Europe, Southeast Asia and elsewhere”.
ISIS spokesman Mohammad al-Adnani has been killed, according to the terror group’s Amaq news agency and a statement from the group on August 30, 2016.
A US official says Adnani was killed by a US Predator drone (left), while Russian Federation claims a bombing run by its SU-34 fighter (right) hit the terrorist.
A United States defence official said the US-led coalition forces battling ISIL had conducted an air strike Tuesday targeting a “senior leader” of the group, without specifying who the leader was.
The Islamic State group has suffered a string of defeats in recent weeks, including in Aleppo province, where Turkish troops and allied Syrian rebels drove IS out of the border town of Jarablus last week. “Today is the Duma [bomb] day”, said another posting by a purported fighter using the name Abu Asim al-Masri.
In June 2014, he formally declared the establishment of the IS caliphate stretching across parts of Syria and Iraq under the leadership of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, demanding allegiance from Muslims worldwide.
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But he was much more than a spokesman, CNN terrorism analyst Paul Cruickshank said.
