The International coalition jets targeted an Islamic State (IS) leader in Mosul on Sunday night 5th April.
A Kurdish security source told BasNews, “IS Leader Waadullah Ahmed Hamd al-Hayali, also known as Abu al-Yaman, was killed last night at 12:30 am in the Musanna neighbourhood of Mosul.”
He added, “Using several intelligence sources, coalition jets located Abu al-Yaman in Mosul and successfully targeted him.”
“He was a coordinator between IS militants in Iraq and Syria,” said the source.
“He served as an Iraqi officer during Saddam Hussein’s regime but joined Al-Qaida after 2003 and took senior positions in Islamic State thereafter.”
The source confirmed that as well as being a key figure in IS ,Abu al-Yaman was very close to al-Baghdadi, and was fully authorised to take decisions on the movement of IS militants.
It comes after the Kurdish jihadist Mufaq Assa’ad Askandar, who beheaded the Peshmerga officer Hujam Surchi last January, was killed during an operation in Mosul few days ago.
After IS militants had control of Tikrit for months, the Iraqi army retook the town last week, causing most IS leaders to withdraw to Mosul.
