A French jihadist who has previously encouraged others to commit terrorist acts in France is likely dead following a US-led drone attack in Iraq, US media reported according to eblnews.com .
The Pentagon said it was still assessing the results of the attack near the Iraqi city of Mosul, which occurred in the last three days, but a senior US defence official told CNN that it was “likely successful.”
The official added that the airstrike was carried out by a drone, the broadcaster reported.
Kassim, a Frenchman of Algerian descent, spent most of his childhood in France before moving to Syria in 2015 and joining terrorist organization Islamic State, according to the Washington Post.
In September, suspects were arrested in France after communicating with Kassim via an encrypted messenger service, where he apparently encouraged them to carry out terrorism attacks on French soil.
French authorities believe that the 29-year-old was also in contact with the man who murdered a police commander and his wife in north-west France in June, as well as the two men who killed a priest in Normandy in July.
