Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the president of Turkey, announced late Sunday that Turkish forces had killed the commander of the Islamic State organization during an operation in Syria.
In an interview with TRT Turk, Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that a hit on Saturday killed the IS leader, also known by the codename Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi.
A member of the Turkish-backed Syrian opposition forces’ military police told The Associated Press that the MIT clashed with ISIS militants on a farm in the village of Miska in Aleppo province late Friday night. As the fighting intensified, Al-Qurayshi, who was hiding in a building on the farm, blew himself up. Investigators were searching the hideout for evidence and other information.
Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi was named leader of the militant group after its previous chief was killed in October, with an ISIS spokesman calling him “one of the veteran warriors and one of the loyal sons of the Islamic State.”
He took over leadership of ISIS at a time when the extremist group has lost control of the territory it once held in Iraq and Syria. However, he had been trying to rise again, with sleeper cells carrying out deadly attacks in both countries.