ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Islamic State (ISIS) Syria leader was killed in a US drone strike in the country's northwest on Tuesday, the Pentagon said, adding that another senior ISIS official was also injured.
US Central Command Forces carried out a drone strike outside Jindires district of Afrin, killing the ISIS leader, Maher al-Agal, and critically injuring another top associate. The statement released by the Pentagon added that no civilian casualties were inflicted.
“Maher al-Agal, one of the top five ISIS leaders and the leader of ISIS in Syria, was killed in the strike. A senior ISIS official closely associated with Maher [Agal] was seriously injured in the strike,” the Pentagon statement reads.
The Pentagon added that Agal was also “responsible for aggressively pursuing the development of ISIS networks outside of Iraq and Syria.”
ISIS has not made any comment about the death of Agal.
Agal’s takedown marks the third leader of the notorious jihadist group to be killed in northwest Syria, a region largely controlled by rebel groups backed by Turkey.
US forces killed former ISIS top leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a daring overnight operation on his house in Idlib, northwest Syria on February 3. He blew himself up as US forces advanced on his property.
Three years prior, longtime ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a similar US forces raid in another area of Idlib. Baghdadi detonated a suicide vest after being cornered in a tunnel with three of his children.
A senior ISIS leader identified as Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi was arrested by coalition forces last month in Aleppo.
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