IS chief ‘kills himself’
The leader of Islamic State died when he blew himself and family members up during a US military raid in Syria, President Joe Biden said on Thursday, dealing a blow to the jihadist group's efforts to reorganize as a guerrilla force after losing large swathes of territory.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, had led Islamic State since the death in 2019 of its founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was also killed when he detonated explosives during a raid by US commandos.
As US forces closed in on Quraishi in northwestern Syria overnight, he triggered a blast that also killed members of his own family, including children, according to Biden and US officials.
The blast was so big it hurled bodies out of the three-storey building where Quraishi was and into surrounding streets in the town of Atmeh, US officials said, blaming Islamic State for all civilian casualties.
"Thanks to the bravery of our troops, this horrible terrorist leader is no more," Biden said in remarks at the White House.
A senior White House official said the blast was believed to have killed Quraishi, his two wives and a child on the third floor, and likely a child who was on the second floor with Quraishi's lieutenant and his wife, who were killed after firing on US forces. Two additional fighters were killed after firing on US helicopters, the official said.
Quraishi had been using the house and an unwitting family living on the first floor as a "protective shield," a factor that complicated planning for the raid, the official added.
The official was unable to explain the discrepancy between those numbers and those provided by Syrian rescue workers, who said at least 13 people were killed, including four women and six children.
Quraishi's death is another setback for Islamic State nearly three years after its self-declared caliphate was dismantled and its fighters defeated by US and Iraqi forces.
The US government had offered a $10 million reward for information leading to Qurashi, who was an Iraqi also known as Amir Mohammed Said Abd al-Rahman al-Mawla.
Biden and US officials described Quraishi as the "driving force" behind the 2014 genocide of minority Yazidis in northern Iraq, and said he oversaw a network of Islamic State branches from Africa to Afghanistan.
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