U.S.-led coalition nabs senior leader of Islamic State

U.S.-led coalition forces captured a senior leader of the extremist Islamic State in a military operation in northern Syria on Thursday, the coalition said.

A statement from the coalition said the captured Islamic State leader was an experienced bomb maker and operational facilitator, describing him as one of the top leaders of the militant group’s branch in Syria. It said the operation was “successful,” with no civilians harmed and no injuries to the coalition forces.

An updated statement later in the day identified the captured militant as Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi, known as Salim, and said that he was taken in Syria’s Aleppo province. According to a defense official, alKurdi is currently in U.S. custody and was being questioned.

Earlier, three Iraqi intelligence officials said al-Kurdi is a Syrian national who rose through militant ranks to become one of the most senior and dangerous Islamic State leaders and an expert on manufacturing booby-traps and explosives.

For a while, he was the Islamic State leader in charge of the Syrian city of Raqqa, when it was the de facto capital of the group’s so-called Islamic “caliphate” that stretched across much of Iraq and Syria.

The U.S.-backed forces declared victory over the Islamic State in March 2019 after retaking the last piece of territory held by Islamic State in Syria. But the militants continue to operate and carry out deadly attacks in both Iraq and Syria through sleeper cells; the group also maintains several affiliates in various countries.