Baghdad: Iraq’s Defence Ministry said on Wednesday the second most senior member of Daesh had been killed in a coalition air strike on a mosque where he was meeting with other militants in the north of the country.
“Based on accurate intelligence, an air strike by the coalition forces targeted the second in command of Daesh, Abu Alaa Al Afari,” the ministry said in a statement on its website.
Abu Alaa Al Afari, whose real name is Abdul Rahman Mustafa Mohammad, is an ethnic Turkmen from the town of Tel Afar in northwestern Iraq, and is thought to be second in command of Daesh after self-proclaimed caliph Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi.
On its website, the defence ministry posted footage of the air strike on the “Martrys Mosque” in the village of Al Iyadhiya near Tel Afar, where Afari was a teacher and well-known preacher, according to a local official who asked to remain anonymous.
There was no way to independently confirm the defence ministry statement, and the Iraqi government has previously announced the death of Daesh militants only for them to resurface alive.
The Pentagon in Washington said it was aware of the reports but could not confirm them.
