Counterterrorism

Top Islamic State commander killed, Pentagon says

The U.S. military killed several key Islamic State figures this week, including a top commander serving as a finance minister, Secretary of Defense Ashton B. Carter said Friday.

U.S. officials said that Haji Imam has held a series of high-level roles in the Islamic State, and is part of a leadership core that traces back to the organization’s emergence as an al-Qaeda affiliate after the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“We are systematically eliminating ISIL’s cabinet” said Carter at a press briefing Friday, using an acronym for the Islamic State.

Imam is a “long time member, someone who forms connective tissue to the al-Qaeda in Iraq days,” a U.S. official said, adding that he was “closely associated and tied to Zarqawi.” Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian operative known for his brutal tactics, was head of the al-Qaeda franchise in Iraq until he was killed in a U.S. airstrike in 2006.