The Turkish secret service MIT has killed the leader of the Islamic State terrorist organization, Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi, in Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan told Turkish broadcaster TRT. IS has not yet responded.
Erdogan said in the interview that the IS leader was “neutralized” on Saturday as part of a Turkish intelligence operation in Syria. According to the president, he had been eyeing Qurayshi for a long time.
The report that Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi has died has not yet been independently confirmed. Press agency AFP reports based on witnesses that the Turks stormed an abandoned farm used as an Islamic school in northern Syria on Saturday.
Qurayshi had been the leader of the terror organization since November 2022 when he succeeded Abu al-Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi. The latter died when he blew himself up in northwestern Syria, just before a US commando team could capture him. He was the third caliph or leader of IS.
Drone attack
At the beginning of this month, the US reported that another IS leader had been killed in a drone strike in northwestern Syria. In February, the Americans killed a regional leader of Islamic State in northeastern Syria.
The terror group still regularly commits attacks in Syria and Iraq, where the self-proclaimed caliphate of IS used to apply.
- Prison sentences for four IS women for preparing attack
- US: IS leader killed responsible for European attacks
- US reports death of regional IS leader in Syria
