Damascus: The Islamic State (IS) militant group’s chief spokesman Abu Muhammad al-Adnani has been killed in the Syrian province of Aleppo, IS-affiliated media said.
Adnani was one of the longest-serving and most prominent leaders of the IS. Analysts have described Adnani as a key figure of the jihadist group.
According to the Pentagon, it had targeted Adnani in a precision strike near the town of al-Bab and was still assessing the results.
Adnani was known for his calls for lone-wolf attacks in the West. IS news agency Amaq said that Adnani was martyred while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo. It said he died after a “long voyage crowned by sacrifice” and vowed “revenge” at the hands of a “new generation born unto the Islamic State”.
“We are still assessing the results, but Adnani’s removal from the battlefield would mark another significant blow to the IS,” the Pentagon said.
Adnani was originally from the western Syrian province of Idlib and joined the jihadist movement in Iraq where he served now slain Al-Qaeda leader Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and held several positions. Aymenn Jawad Tamimi, an expert on jihadist groups, said Adnani’s death “is significant symbolically and in pointing to the wider decline of the Islamic State”.
Fighting has escalated in Aleppo in recent weeks, with rebels breaking a siege by government forces and Syrian and Russian warplanes carrying out air strikes on rebel-held areas.
