Jihadi Amaq agency confirms death of ISIS commander Shishani
MOSUL – A top ISIS group commander, Omar Al-Shishani, has been killed in Iraq, the militant-linked Amaq agency said on Wednesday.
Citing a “military source,” Amaq said Shishani was killed “in the town of Sharqat as he took part in repelling the military campaign on the city of Mosul,” referring to the last ISIS-held city in Iraq.
Amaq did not specify when Shishani was killed, but the loss of the commander is a significant blow to the militant group, which has suffered a string of setbacks in Iraq this year.
The Pentagon announced in March that American forces had killed Shishani and said his death would likely hamper ISIS’s ability to carry out operations inside and outside of Iraq and Syria.
But it did not specify how or where he was killed.
US officials previously said Shishani “likely died” in an air strike, but reports surfaced that he had survived.
Shishani was a fierce, battle-hardened warlord with roots in Georgia and a thick red beard who was one of the most notorious faces of ISIS.
Shishani, whose nom de guerre means “Omar the Chechen,” was one of the ISIS leaders most wanted by Washington which had put a multi-million-dollar bounty on his head.
His exact rank was unclear, but US officials had branded him as “equivalent of the secretary of defence” for the militant group.
Shishani came from the former Soviet state of Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge region, which is populated mainly by ethnic Chechens.
He fought as a Chechen rebel against Russian forces before joining the Georgian military in 2006, and fought Russian forces again in Georgia in 2008.
He later resurfaced in northern Syria as the commander of a group of foreign fighters, and became a senior leader within ISIS.
ISIS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes, training and other assistance.
The Sunni extremist group has responded to the battlefield setbacks by striking civilians, particularly Shiites, and experts have warned there may be more bombings as the militants continue to lose ground.
Agencies
Citing a “military source,” Amaq said Shishani was killed “in the town of Sharqat as he took part in repelling the military campaign on the city of Mosul,” referring to the last ISIS-held city in Iraq.
Amaq did not specify when Shishani was killed, but the loss of the commander is a significant blow to the militant group, which has suffered a string of setbacks in Iraq this year.
The Pentagon announced in March that American forces had killed Shishani and said his death would likely hamper ISIS’s ability to carry out operations inside and outside of Iraq and Syria.
But it did not specify how or where he was killed.
US officials previously said Shishani “likely died” in an air strike, but reports surfaced that he had survived.
Shishani was a fierce, battle-hardened warlord with roots in Georgia and a thick red beard who was one of the most notorious faces of ISIS.
Shishani, whose nom de guerre means “Omar the Chechen,” was one of the ISIS leaders most wanted by Washington which had put a multi-million-dollar bounty on his head.
His exact rank was unclear, but US officials had branded him as “equivalent of the secretary of defence” for the militant group.
Shishani came from the former Soviet state of Georgia’s Pankisi Gorge region, which is populated mainly by ethnic Chechens.
He fought as a Chechen rebel against Russian forces before joining the Georgian military in 2006, and fought Russian forces again in Georgia in 2008.
He later resurfaced in northern Syria as the commander of a group of foreign fighters, and became a senior leader within ISIS.
ISIS overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014, but has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces backed by US-led air strikes, training and other assistance.
The Sunni extremist group has responded to the battlefield setbacks by striking civilians, particularly Shiites, and experts have warned there may be more bombings as the militants continue to lose ground.
Agencies
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ISIS top commander Omar Al-Shishani (C) was confirmed dead. File photo
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