Beirut: A Saudi cleric with Daesh has been killed in the northern Syrian town of Kobani that has been witnessing intense clashes for months between Islamist militants and Kurdish gunmen, activists said on Friday.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said Othman Al Nazeh Al Assiri was killed on Thursday while battling Kurdish fighters in Kobani, also known as Ain Al Arab.
Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, including the Raqqa Media Centre, which operates in areas under Daesh control, said Al Assiri was killed in an air strike on Kobani by the US-led coalition.
Kurdish Democratic Union Party spokesman Nawaf Khalil said he has no confirmation that Al Assiri was killed while battling the members of the local Kurdish militia known as the People’s Protection Units or YPG.
Al Assiri was a known Sharia official with Daesh and used to lead sermons at a mosque in the northern Syrian city of Raqqa.
Earlier Friday, three activist groups said the US-led coalition warplanes carried out more than a dozen air strikes overnight in and around Raqqa, Daesh’s de facto capital in northeastern Syria.
