Four senior ISIS leaders were killed in last month’s US-Iraqi military raid in western Iraq, including the group’s top operations leader in Iraq and its top bomb maker for whom the US had offered a $5 million reward, the US military said on Friday.
The four ISIS leaders were among the 14 ISIS fighters killed in the August 29 raid in four locations in western Iraq. Seven US service members who participated in the the raid was damaged.
The Pentagon Seal in the Pentagon Briefing Room in Arlington, Va., on Sept. 1, 2021.
Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images, FILE
“This operation targeted ISIS leaders and served to disrupt and degrade ISIS’s ability to plan, organize, and execute attacks against Iraqi civilians, as well as American citizens, allies, and partners throughout the region and beyond,” U.S. Central Command said. CENTCOM) said in a statement on Friday.
“As part of the ongoing post-raid assessment, CENTCOM can confirm that four ISIS leaders were killed including: Ahmad Hamid Husayn Abd-al-Jalil al-Ithawi, responsible for all operations in Iraq, Abu Hammam, responsible for overseeing all operations in western Iraq, Abu-‘Ali al-Tunisi, responsible for overseeing technological developments, and Shakir Abud Ahmad al-Issawi, responsible for overseeing military operations in western Iraq,” it added.
Abu Ali al-Tunisi was profiled by Rewards for Justice website as “leader of manufacturing for ISIS in Iraq.”
“He has conducted training for ISIS members, including instructions on how to make explosives, suicide vests and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Al-Tunisi has also provided advanced training on weapons development and chemical weapons production.”
CENTCOM had previously said some of the ISIS militants in the raid were armed with grenades and wearing explosive suicide belts.