The head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, Abdullah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or "Abu Khadija", was killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi intelligence service and the United States services, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced today.
Security officials said the operation was carried out by airstrike in Anbar province in western Iraq.
Al-Rifai was a "deputy" of the militant group and "one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq," the statement said.
The operation came at a time when Iraqi officials are concerned about the resurgence of the Islamic State (IS) in Syria, following the fall of former President Bashar al-Assad in Syria.
While the new Syrian authorities led by the former Islamist rebel group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham have hunted down IS cells since taking power, some fear a security breakdown in the country could allow the group to reactivate.
The US and Iraq announced an agreement last year to end the American-led military mission in Iraq that runs until September 2025, with US forces leaving some bases where they had stationed troops.
When an agreement was reached to end the coalition mission in Iraq, Iraqi political leaders said that the IS threat was under control and that they no longer needed American help to break up the remaining cells.
But the fall of Assad in December has forced some to reconsider that stance, including members of the Coordination Framework, a coalition of mostly Shiite political parties close to Iran that brought current Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani to power in late 2022.
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