ISIS leader killed in battle, terrorist group says

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Leader of the Islamic State, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was recently killed in battle, the terrorist group said an audio recording released Wednesday.

Details on the ISIS leader’s death including how, when or where were not reportedly released by the group, and the White House has yet to independently confirm al-Qurayshi’s death. 

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"We certainly welcome the news of the death of another ISIS leader," National Security Council coordinator John Kirby told reporters Wednesday. "I don't have any additional operational details to provide at this time. We're still working our way through that."

But when pressed on whether the U.S. has been able to confirm what would be the second ISIS leader death in a year he said, "We welcome the announcement that another leader from ISIS is no longer walking the face of the earth."

A fighter of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) holds an ISIL flag and a weapon on a street in the city of Mosul, June 23, 2014. Two ISIS leaders were killed in a joint operation between Syrian and coalition forces in Syria last weekend, coalition officials said. 

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The death of al-Qurayshi marks the second death of an ISIS leader this year after his predecessor Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed in a U.S. raid in February, and the third since ISIS founder Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed by U.S. forces in 2019. 

The death of the ISIS leader earlier this year came as a blow to the terrorist group that had been attempting to carry out deadly attacks in Iraq and Syria after having been largely ousted from both nations in 2017 and 2019. 

"He died fighting the enemies of God killing some of them before being killed like a man on the battlefield," IS spokesman Abu Omar al-Muhajer said regarding the latest ISIS leader’s death. 

Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurayshi has been named the group’s newest leader though little appears to be known about him.

People inspect a destroyed house following an operation by the U.S. military in the Syrian village of Atmeh, in Idlib province, Syria, Thursday, Feb. 3, 2022. ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi died in a suicide explosion during the raid, the U.S. said. (AP Photo/Ghaith Alsayed)

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"He is one of the veteran warriors and one of the loyal sons of the Islamic State," al-Muhajer said.

No one has publicly claimed responsibility for al-Qurayshi’s death. 

The Associated Press contributed to this report.