The leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed, Iraq’s prime minister announced on Friday.
Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or ‘Abu Khadija,’ was killed in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with U.S.-led coalition forces, Iraq’s Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement.
The prime minister described al-Rifai as ‘one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world.’
U.S. President Donald Trump reacted to the news on his social media platform Truth Social, saying al-Rifai’s ‘miserable life was terminated.’
‘Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed,’ Trump wrote Friday night. ‘He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters. His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government.’
‘PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!’ the president added.
U.S. Central Command said in a statement that its forces, in cooperation with Iraqi Intelligence and security forces, conducted an airstrike in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, that killed the ‘Global ISIS #2 leader, Chief of Global Operations and the Delegated Committee Emir – Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, alias ‘Abu Khadijah,’ and one other ISIS operative.’
‘As the Emir of ISIS’ most senior decision-making body, Abu Khadijah maintained responsibility for operations, logistics, and planning conducted by ISIS globally, and directs a significant portion of finance for the group’s global organization,’ CENTCOM said.
After the strike, U.S. and Iraqi forces moved to the location of the strike and found both dead ISIS targets who were each wearing unexploded ‘suicide vests’ and who had multiple weapons, CENTCOM said.
U.S. and Iraqi forces were able to identify al-Rifai using DNA collected in a previous raid where he narrowly escaped.
‘Abu Khadijah was one of the most important ISIS members in the entire global ISIS organization. We will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and U.S., allied and partner personnel in the region and beyond,’ Gen. Michael Erik Kurilla, commander at CENTCOM, said in a statement.