ISIS chief Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi has been killed in a US-led counterterrorism raid in northwest Syria.
Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi set off a blast killing himself and his family, as US special forces rounded on his hideout following a fierce a gunfight.
“Last night’s operation took a major terrorist leader off the battlefield,” US President Joe Biden said.
“As our troops approached to capture the terrorist, in a final act of desperate cowardice, with no regard to the lives of his own family or others in the building, he chose to blow himself up… rather than face justice for the crimes he has committed,” Biden said.
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The raid targeted a three-storey residential building on the outskirts of Atmeh town, near the Syria-Turkey border.
Notoriously known as “Destroyer”, Qurayshi – who is also known as Hajji Abdullah, Amir Mohammed Said Abdul Rahman and Abdullah Qardash – became IS chief in 2019, following the death of his predecessor Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
It was the biggest US raid in Syria since the 2019 operation that killed former ISIS chief Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
There were no US casualties in the raid, according to the Pentagon.
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“Thanks to the bravery of our troops, this horrible terrorist leader is no more,” US President Joe Biden said from the Roosevelt Room.
Biden added: “Knowing that terrorist had chosen to surround himself with families, including children, we made a choice to pursue a Special Forces raid at a much a greater risk to our own people rather than targeting him with an airstrike.”