Head of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria Abu Khadija has been killed, Iraqi prime minister says
Islamic State in Iraq and Syria has been killed in Iraq in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with U.S.-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister announced Friday.
«The Iraqis continue their impressive victories over the forces of darkness and terrorism,» Prime Minister Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani said in a statement posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Abdallah Maki Mosleh al-Rifai, or "Abu Khadija," was «deputy caliph» of the militant group and as «one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world,» the statement said.
On his Truth Social platform Friday night, U.S. President Donald Trump said: «Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed. He was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters» in coordination with the Iraqi government and the Kurdish regional government.
«PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!» Trump posted.
Live Events
A security official said the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, in western Iraq. A second official said the operation took place Thursday night but that al-Rifai's death was confirmed Friday. They spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment publicly.
The announcement came on the same day as the first visit by Syria's top diplomat to Iraq, during which the two countries pledged to work together to combat IS.
Iraqi Foreign Minister Fouad Hussein said at a news conference that «there are common challenges facing Syrian and Iraqi society, and especially the terrorists of IS.» He said the officials had spoken «in detail about the movements of ISIS, whether on the Syrian-Iraqi border, inside Syria or inside Iraq» during the visit.
Hussein referred to an operations
