ERBIL, Kurdistan Region – An armed anti-ISIS group operating in the extremist-held city of Mosul has claimed the assassination of the military attache of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the self-proclaimed caliph of the Islamic State. “A special force of the Free Officers Movement gunned down Wisan Kanan, Baghdadi’s military assistant, in the Mosul’s neighborhood of Al Faisaliah,” Mohammad Bahaj, a member of the Free Officers Movement, told the Al-hadath news on Thursday. According to Bahaj, Kanan was one of the most prominent ISIS military leaders in Mosul and before served as a leader with Al-Qaeda. Bahaj claimed Kanan was arrested by the US forces in Iraq in 2010, and upon his release joined The Nusra Front in Syria and then ISIS. The Free Officers Movement was established in June by 490 former officers of the Baathist regime in order to confront ISIS in Mosul. Over the past two months, the group has claimed the killing of several ISIS leaders. In November, the Free Officers Movement took responsibility for the assassination of Abu Shahab al Suri, the ISIS leader was in-charge of the western part of Mosul city.
