War on terror

Russian airstrike killed senior ISIS leader Abu Muhammad al-Adnani – Moscow

The killing of a top figure in the terrorist group Islamic State, Abu Muhammed al-Adnani, was the result of an airstrike conducted by a Russian Su-34 bomber, Russia’s Defense Ministry said Wednesday.

The death of al-Adnani, Islamic State’s spokesman and its leader in Syria, in a bombing in the Syrian province of Aleppo was earlier confirmed by the terrorist organization itself.

In an airstrike conducted in the area of Maaratat Umm Hawsh on Tuesday, the Su-34 targeted a group of Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) fighters numbering about 40 people, the Russian Defense Ministry reported. Al-Adnani’s death was confirmed by several intelligence channels.

The militant was described as the second most senior IS leader after Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. The group’s news outlet, Amaq, reported Al-Adnani’s death on Tuesday, without specifying who was responsible. According to Amaq, al-Adnani was killed “while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo.”