ISIS leader killed in air strike

An ISIS leader involved in the beheading of U.S. citizen Peter Kassig has been killed in an air strike in Syria.

Precision strikes, conducted by the U.S.-led coalition Sunday, targeted Abu al-Umarayn and other ISIS members. The strikes took place in a desert area in southeastern Syria.

“Al-Umarayn had given indications of posing an imminent threat to coalition forces, and he was involved in the killing of American citizen and former U.S. Army Ranger Peter Kassig,” Col. Sean Ryan, a spokesman for the U.S.-led coalition fighting ISIS, told CNN.

“He has been linked to and directly involved with executing several other prisoners as a senior ISIS member.”

Kassig was kidnapped in October 2013 as he was making a delivery to refugees. He converted to Islam during captivity. In November 2014, a video of his beheading was released and his death was confirmed days later.

Former President Barack Obama called the killing “pure evil.”

“Coalition air strikes continue to disrupt ISIS command and control on the battlefield as we remove key figures from their ranks,” the U.S. Central Command said Monday.