U.S. airstrikes in Iraq kill Islamic State leader
BAGHDAD — U.S. airstrikes in a joint mission with Iraqi forces have killed the top Islamic State group leader in Iraq, an attack aimed at stemming the group’s resurgence and exacting retribution for a deadly double-suicide bombing in Baghdad last week.
The Islamic State group commander, Jabbar Salman Ali Farhan al-Issawi, 43, known as Abu Yasser, was killed Wednesday near the northern Iraqi city of Kirkuk, U.S.-led military coalition and Iraqi officials said Friday.
The Islamic State group no longer holds territory in Iraq but has continued to carry out deadly attacks. The question of what kind of force is required to keep the group in check has been at the heart of U.S. and Iraqi negotiations over reducing the number of U.S. troops in Iraq, and the U.S. role in the raid this week illustrates Iraq’s continued reliance on the U.S. military.
A coalition spokesperson, Col. Wayne Marotto, called Mr. al-Issawi’s death “a significant blow” to the Islamic State group’s efforts to regroup.
Mr. al-Issawi coordinated the group’s operations in Iraq, counterterrorism experts said. Col. Marotto said he was responsible for developing and relaying guidance to Islamic State fighters and for helping to expand the Islamic State presence in Iraq.
He said that nine other Islamic State fighters were killed in the operation.
Col. Marotto said Iraqi counterterrorism forces led the operation with coalition air, intelligence and surveillance support.
The U.S.-led coalition has a policy of not commenting on which countries conduct specific airstrikes. But senior Iraqi security officials, who asked not to be identified because they were not authorized to release the information, said that U.S. aircraft carried out the strikes.
Iraqi officials said the attack on an underground hideout avenged the deaths of the 32 Iraqis killed in the Islamic State attack on a Baghdad market last week. More than 100 others were wounded in the attack, the deadliest in Baghdad in four years.
The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the bombing, saying it was targeting Shiite Muslims and Iraqi security forces.
“We promised and fulfilled,” Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhimi tweeted about the operation that killed Mr. al-Issawi. “I gave my word to pursue Daesh terrorists, we gave them a thundering response,” he said, using an Arabic acronym for the Islamic State group.
In addition to the airstrikes, the operation included raids on Islamic State group guesthouses by Iraqi counterterrorism forces, according to an Iraqi military statement.
Iraqi officials described Mr. al-Issawi as the “deputy caliph,” or second in command, to the top Islamic State group leader. That rank could not be independently confirmed.
Little is known about the overall head of the group, identified by the Islamic State group as Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. Mr. al-Qurayshi succeeded Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who died when he detonated a suicide vest as U.S. forces raided his hideout in Syria in 2019.