The number two commander of terror group ISIS, Haji Mutazz, was reportedly killed in a drone strike on August 18th near Mosul, Iraq.
The news was released by a U.S. National Security Council spokesperson on Friday.
Spokesman Ned Price confirmed that Mutazz was killed while traveling in a car with an Islamic State media coordinator named Abu Abdullah.
Mutazz was the head of ISIS operations in Iraq and was a high ranking military planner. Defense intelligence sources believe that Mutazz was also deeply involved in the terror network’s financial operations.
Mutazz was a shadowy and deeply paranoid figure who lived in constant fear of assassination. He used many names, such as Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, and has been reported killed before.
Several news organizations reported his death at the end of last year after a senior U.S. administration official announced he had been killed.
It later became apparent that the United States had wrongly identified him at that time.
“Al-Hayali’s death will adversely impact ISIL’s operations given that his influence spanned ISIL’s finance, media, operations, and logistics,” Price was quoted as saying. ISIL is the term the pentagon uses to describe the ever-morphing terror network.
Because of its sensitivity details about the drone strike are not being released.
The only details to have emerged thus far is that the U.S. received “actionable intelligence,” that Mutazz was in a particular area at a specific time. This indicates that the U.S. has intelligence assets in and around the terror group.
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