Online media reports on Saturday say that a senior Islamic State (IS) group leader in Iraq and Syria has been killed.
He was reportedly killed in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service.
According to Iraqi prime minister, Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, the Iraqi national intelligence sevice worked along with US-led coalition forces.
Sudani said that Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, also known as Abu Khadijah, was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world.
US President Donald Trump said “he was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters”.
The US Central Command (Centcom) said it conducted a “precision airstrike” in Iraq’s western Al Anbar province.
The airstrike was said to have killed one of the most important IS members on Thursday.
Centcom further said that Rifai was the head of IS’s most senior decision-making body.
According to them, he was responsible for operations, logistics, and planning conducted by IS globally.
He also directed a large portion of finance for the group’s global organisation, Centcom added.
Posting on his Truth Social platform, President Trump said:
“His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”
Rifai was found dead alongside one other IS operative, Centcom said.
“Both terrorists were wearing unexploded ‘suicide vests’ and had multiple weapons,” it added.
Centcom and Iraqi forces were able to identify him through a DNA match from DNA collected on a previous raid where he “narrowly escaped.”
Gen Michael Erik Kurilla said Rifai “was one of the most important IS members in the entire global IS organisation.
“We will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and US, allied and partner personnel in the region and beyond.”
IS once held 88,000sq km (34,000sq miles) of territory stretching from north-eastern Syria across northern Iraq.
It imposed its brutal rule on almost eight million people.
Iraq declared the defeat of IS in December 2017 and the group was driven from its last piece of territory in 2019.
However militants and sleeper cells continue to have a presence in various parts of the country.
They continue to carry out sporadic attacks against Iraq’s army and police.
US President Donald Trump on Friday reacted to the killing of Islamic State (ISIS) leader Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rufayi, saying that his “miserable life was terminated”.
In a post on Truth Social, Donald Trump said,
“Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters.
“His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government.
“PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!” Trump added.