American special forces killed ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi in a counter-terrorism raid in northwest Syria on Thursday, the White House has said.
Confirming the raid, U.S. President Joe Biden said in a statement, “Thanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces, we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, the leader of ISIS. All Americans have returned safely from the operation,” according to a report by Reuters.
“A senior U.S. administration official told Reuters al-Qurayshi was killed in the raid,” the report said.
“At the beginning of the operation the terrorist target exploded a bomb that killed him and members of his own family, including women and children,” the administration official said.
Additional media reports said one of the American helicopters, a Chinook, used in the attack was blown up on the ground by the American forces due to a technical malfunction.
American Navy Seals killed Qurayshi’s predecessor, ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in October 2019 in northwest Syria.
“While we are still assessing the results of this operation, this appears to be the same cowardly terrorist tactic we saw in the 2019 operation that eliminated al-Baghdadi,” the official told Reuters, referring to the bomb detonation.
Addressing the development, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said: “The world is a safer place now. I’d like to congratulate our ally, the United States and the brave American soldiers for the bold operation. We must continue the global war against terrorism with strength and determination.”
