His death, if confirmed, would be the latest blow to the group, which has been on the retreat in Syria and Iraq, where it has declared a self-styled Islamic caliphate straddling both countries.
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A USA defence official said it carried out an airstrike in Al Bab, Syria, targeting al Adnani but stopped short of confirming his death.
“In some ways he’s a more risky figure than Abu Bakr al Baghdadi, because he’s believed to be overseeing the external operations division of ISIS, and that’s the part of ISIS which threatens the West, which carried out the attacks in Paris, which could one day carry out an attack in the USA on a significant scale”.
She said: “When calling for lone wolf attacks in the West, ISIS fighters/supporters quote Adnani more than any other individual”.
ISIS’s news agency Amaq did not say how the 39-year-old Syria native was killed in a eulogy published Monday, only that he was “surveying operations” in the area.
Syrian rebel factions and President Bashar al-Assad’s regime have fought a yearslong war of attrition for the northern city of Aleppo. However, the official did not confirm whether the Adnani was eliminated in the operation. “The U.S. Department of State designated al-Adnani as a Specially Designated Global Terrorist on August 18, 2014”.
The Islamic State holdings in Aleppo province have recently been under attacks by the US -supported Syrian Democratic Forces, Turkey-backed Syrian rebels, and by an alliance of Kurdish and Arab militias.
The circumstances of Adnani’s death are unknown, and have not been confirmed by the USA government.
After his release, he became a media spokesman for ISIS and by 2014 he had assumed a top operational role.
As head of external operations, he was in charge of attacks overseas, an increasingly important tactic for the group as its core Iraqi and Syrian territory has been eroded by military losses.
“The blood of the sheiks will only make it more firm on the path of jihad and determination to take revenge and assault”, it said.
A USA defense official called Adnani “one of ISIL´s most senior leaders”, in line with analysts who have described him as a key figure in the group. It said a generation raised in IS-held territory would avenge Adnani’s death.
Kurds have carved out a semi-autonomous region in Syria’s north and northeast, with their People’s Protection Units (YPG) becoming a key partner of the US-led coalition fighting IS.
The terror group had announced Adnani’s death through its news outlet, Amaq, yesterday.
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There was a $5 million reward on his head under the US “Rewards for Justice” program.
