A top DAESH commander, Omar al-Shishani, has been killed in Iraq, according to a statement on Wednesday from the Amaq agency, which is linked to the extremist group.
The Pentagon announced in March that Shishani, known as "Omar the Chechen," was believed to have died of injuries received in an air raid targeting his convoy in northeastern Syria – details at odds with Amaq's account.
Citing a "military source," Amaq said Shishani was killed "in the town of Sharqat as he took part in repelling the military campaign on the city of Mosul," referring to the last DAESH-held city in Iraq.
Iraqi forces are conducting operations to set the stage for a final push to Mosul, the country's second city that fell to DAESH in June 2014.
Sharqat lies on the road north to Mosul, but Iraqi forces recently bypassed the area to recapture a key military base in the Qayyarah area farther north that the Pentagon said will be a "springboard" for the push toward the city.
Amaq did not specify when Shishani was killed, but the loss of the commander is a blow to the extremist group, which has suffered a string of setbacks in Iraq this year.
In addition to Shishani, the U.S. announced that it had killed DAESH deputy leader Abd ar-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli in March.
Shishani, a fierce, battle-hardened warlord with roots in Georgia and a thick red beard, was one of the most notorious faces of DAESH.
The fighter's nom de guerre means "Omar the Chechen," and he was one of DAESH's leaders most wanted by Washington, which had put a $5 million bounty on his head. His exact rank was unclear, but a U.S. official had branded him as "equivalent of the secretary of defense" for the extremist group.
Shishani, whose real name is Tarkhan Batirashvili, was an ethnic Chechen from the Southern Caucasian country of Georgia, specifically from the Pankisi Valley, a center of Georgia's Chechen community and once a stronghold for militants. He later resurfaced in northern Syria as the commander of a group of foreign fighters, and became a senior leader within DAESH. A U.S. airstrike targeted Shishani on March 4 near the town of Shaddadeh in Syria, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters in March.
DAESH, which emerged from al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq, blitzed across much of Iraq in the summer of 2014, capturing vast swaths of the country's north and west. It also exploited the chaos of Syria's civil war to seize large chunks of territory there as well. It subsequently drew hundreds of foreign fighters into its operations in Syria. The United Nations estimated that around 30,000 so-called foreign fighters from 100 countries are actively working with DAESH, al-Qaeda or other extremist groups. An earlier estimate by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, a think tank at King's College London, said DAESH fighters include 3,300 Western Europeans and 100 or so Americans.
DAESH overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014 but has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, training and other assistance. Baghdad declared victory in the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, at the end of last month, leaving Mosul as the sole Iraqi city held by DAESH.
The extremist group has responded to the battlefield setbacks by striking civilians, particularly Shiites, and experts have warned there may be more bombings as the extremists continue to lose ground.A top DAESH commander, Omar al-Shishani, has been killed in Iraq, according to a statement on Wednesday from the Amaq agency, which is linked to the extremist group.
The Pentagon announced in March that Shishani, known as "Omar the Chechen," was believed to have died of injuries received in an air raid targeting his convoy in northeastern Syria – details at odds with Amaq's account.
Citing a "military source," Amaq said Shishani was killed "in the town of Sharqat as he took part in repelling the military campaign on the city of Mosul," referring to the last DAESH-held city in Iraq.
Iraqi forces are conducting operations to set the stage for a final push to Mosul, the country's second city that fell to DAESH in June 2014.
Sharqat lies on the road north to Mosul, but Iraqi forces recently bypassed the area to recapture a key military base in the Qayyarah area farther north that the Pentagon said will be a "springboard" for the push toward the city.
Amaq did not specify when Shishani was killed, but the loss of the commander is a blow to the extremist group, which has suffered a string of setbacks in Iraq this year.
In addition to Shishani, the U.S. announced that it had killed DAESH deputy leader Abd ar-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli in March.
Shishani, a fierce, battle-hardened warlord with roots in Georgia and a thick red beard, was one of the most notorious faces of DAESH.
The fighter's nom de guerre means "Omar the Chechen," and he was one of DAESH's leaders most wanted by Washington, which had put a $5 million bounty on his head. His exact rank was unclear, but a U.S. official had branded him as "equivalent of the secretary of defense" for the extremist group.
Shishani, whose real name is Tarkhan Batirashvili, was an ethnic Chechen from the Southern Caucasian country of Georgia, specifically from the Pankisi Valley, a center of Georgia's Chechen community and once a stronghold for militants. He later resurfaced in northern Syria as the commander of a group of foreign fighters, and became a senior leader within DAESH. A U.S. airstrike targeted Shishani on March 4 near the town of Shaddadeh in Syria, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters in March.
DAESH, which emerged from al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq, blitzed across much of Iraq in the summer of 2014, capturing vast swaths of the country's north and west. It also exploited the chaos of Syria's civil war to seize large chunks of territory there as well. It subsequently drew hundreds of foreign fighters into its operations in Syria. The United Nations estimated that around 30,000 so-called foreign fighters from 100 countries are actively working with DAESH, al-Qaeda or other extremist groups. An earlier estimate by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, a think tank at King's College London, said DAESH fighters include 3,300 Western Europeans and 100 or so Americans.
DAESH overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014 but has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, training and other assistance. Baghdad declared victory in the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, at the end of last month, leaving Mosul as the sole Iraqi city held by DAESH.
The extremist group has responded to the battlefield setbacks by striking civilians, particularly Shiites, and experts have warned there may be more bombings as the extremists continue to lose ground.A top DAESH commander, Omar al-Shishani, has been killed in Iraq, according to a statement on Wednesday from the Amaq agency, which is linked to the extremist group.
The Pentagon announced in March that Shishani, known as "Omar the Chechen," was believed to have died of injuries received in an air raid targeting his convoy in northeastern Syria – details at odds with Amaq's account.
Citing a "military source," Amaq said Shishani was killed "in the town of Sharqat as he took part in repelling the military campaign on the city of Mosul," referring to the last DAESH-held city in Iraq.
Iraqi forces are conducting operations to set the stage for a final push to Mosul, the country's second city that fell to DAESH in June 2014.
Sharqat lies on the road north to Mosul, but Iraqi forces recently bypassed the area to recapture a key military base in the Qayyarah area farther north that the Pentagon said will be a "springboard" for the push toward the city.
Amaq did not specify when Shishani was killed, but the loss of the commander is a blow to the extremist group, which has suffered a string of setbacks in Iraq this year.
In addition to Shishani, the U.S. announced that it had killed DAESH deputy leader Abd ar-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli in March.
Shishani, a fierce, battle-hardened warlord with roots in Georgia and a thick red beard, was one of the most notorious faces of DAESH.
The fighter's nom de guerre means "Omar the Chechen," and he was one of DAESH's leaders most wanted by Washington, which had put a $5 million bounty on his head. His exact rank was unclear, but a U.S. official had branded him as "equivalent of the secretary of defense" for the extremist group.
Shishani, whose real name is Tarkhan Batirashvili, was an ethnic Chechen from the Southern Caucasian country of Georgia, specifically from the Pankisi Valley, a center of Georgia's Chechen community and once a stronghold for militants. He later resurfaced in northern Syria as the commander of a group of foreign fighters, and became a senior leader within DAESH. A U.S. airstrike targeted Shishani on March 4 near the town of Shaddadeh in Syria, Pentagon Press Secretary Peter Cook told reporters in March.
DAESH, which emerged from al-Qaeda's branch in Iraq, blitzed across much of Iraq in the summer of 2014, capturing vast swaths of the country's north and west. It also exploited the chaos of Syria's civil war to seize large chunks of territory there as well. It subsequently drew hundreds of foreign fighters into its operations in Syria. The United Nations estimated that around 30,000 so-called foreign fighters from 100 countries are actively working with DAESH, al-Qaeda or other extremist groups. An earlier estimate by the International Center for the Study of Radicalization, a think tank at King's College London, said DAESH fighters include 3,300 Western Europeans and 100 or so Americans.
DAESH overran large areas north and west of Baghdad in 2014 but has since lost significant ground to Iraqi forces backed by U.S.-led airstrikes, training and other assistance. Baghdad declared victory in the city of Fallujah, west of Baghdad, at the end of last month, leaving Mosul as the sole Iraqi city held by DAESH.
The extremist group has responded to the battlefield setbacks by striking civilians, particularly Shiites, and experts have warned there may be more bombings as the extremists continue to lose ground.
