The Islamic State jihadist group's second-in-command, Abdul Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, has been killed in a United States coalition forces air raid, US defence secretary Ash Carter confirmed on Friday.
Also known as Abu Ala al-Afri, Qaduli was in charge of IS's finances and and "was also responsible for some external affairs and plots," Carter said.
Carter wouldn’t confirm where Qaduli died or how, but US media reports cited unnamed officials as saying he was killed in Syria.
Considered to be in line to succeed IS leader Omar al-Baghdadi, Carter described Qaduli as a "well-known terrorist" and former Al-Qaeda member.
Qaduli's death 2will hamper the organization’s ability to continue operations inside and outside of Iraq and Syria," Carter said,
Carter also confirmed the death of a second high-profile IS casualty this month, Georgian-born Tarkhan Batirashvili, known as Omar al-Shishani (Omar the Chechen), who was killed in a US airstrike at the beginning of March.
"We are systematically eliminating ISIL’s cabinet,” Carter said at a news conference, using an acronym for the group.
The US authorities had offered a reward of 7 million dollars for Qaduli, an ethnic Turkmen, was born in 1957 or 1959 in the northern Iraqi city of Mosul, which has been controlled by IS since 2014.
Last year, the US offered a five million dollar reward for the red-bearded Shishani, who had held several senior positions in IS including 'minister of war' including military adviser to al-Baghdadi.
