Top ISIS leader Abu Khadija killed by Iraqi forces and US-led coalition

Iraqi PM announces killing of ISIS commander Abu Khadija in joint operation, marking a significant blow to ISIS leadership

In Short

• Iraqi PM announces killing of ISIS leader, Abu Khadija
• Operation was with US-led coalition
• He was a top global terrorist

The leader of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, described as one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and globally, has been killed, Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced on Friday.

According to Sudani, Iraqi security forces, in coordination with the US-led coalition combating the militant group, killed Abdullah Maki Musleh al-Rifai, also known as Abu Khadija.

In a statement posted on X, the Prime Minister said that Khadija was "one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world."

A security official told AP that the operation was carried out by an airstrike in Anbar province, in western Iraq. While a second official confirmed that the strike took place on Thursday night. The announcement was made on Friday, when Syria's Foreign Minister Assas Al-Shaybani was visiting Iraq, as the two countries worked together in combating Islamic State.

According to news agency Reuters, Islamic State imposed hardline Islamist rule over millions of people in Syria and Iraq for years, and has been trying to stage a comeback in the Middle East, the West and Asia.

Former Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi declared a caliphate over a quarter of Iraq and Syria in 2014 before he was killed in a raid by U.S. special forces in northwest Syria in 2019 as the group collapsed.