ISIS ‘governor of Iraq’ killed in Syria, Anti-Terrorism Service says
ISIS’s “governor of Iraq” was killed in a US-led coalition raid on the militant group in eastern Syria, Iraqi intelligence services said on Tuesday.
Moataz Al Jubouri, known as the “governor of Iraq and head of ISIS foreign operations”, was killed in an air strike in Syria's Deir Ezzor province, the agency said.
Al Jubouri was also known as Hajji Taysir.
The attack was carried out by the coalition with the assistance of Iraq's intelligence and counter-terrorism services.
“Prime Minister Mustafa Al Kadhimi expresses his appreciation for the efforts of the national intelligence and counter-terrorism services for their co-ordination by exchanging information that led to the killing of the terrorist Moataz Al Jubouri ,” the Iraqi Counter-Terrorism Service said.
It said that Al Jubouri oversaw the terrorist group's state-building efforts and was responsible for planning and co-ordinating foreign terrorist operations.
"The intelligence services have been monitoring Al Jubouri's activities and movement for some time," the agency said.
The US Defence Department neither confirmed nor denied the killing to The National.
The department “is aware of reports alleging the death of a key ISIS leader, known as Hajji Taysir, but has no additional information to offer on this matter", Pentagon spokesman Maj Rob Lodewick said.
“Anytime senior level terrorists are eliminated, it’s a good thing for the people of the world.”
The killing "would mark yet another step towards the enduring defeat of ISIS, to which the United States remains fully committed", he said.
The US Rewards for Justice programme had a $5 million (Dh18.3m) bounty out for Al Jubouri.
The US said he was a “legacy member of ISIS’s predecessor organisation Al Qaeda in Iraq” and had overseen bomb-making for terrorist and insurgent attacks.
Iraq said last week that it had arrested a possible successor to the late ISIS leader, Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
Al Baghdadi, who led the extremist group since 2014 and was the world's most wanted man, was killed when he detonated a suicide vest as US special forces raided his hideout in Syria's north-western province of Idlib in October 2019.