Washington : The second-in-command of the dreaded Islamic State militant group has been killed in a US air strike in northern Iraq, the White House has said. Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, also known as Hajji Mutazz was killed on August 18 while travelling in a vehicle near Mosul, Iraq, along with an ISIL media operative known as Abu Abdullah, the White House said.
“Al-Hayali was an ISIL Shura Council member and as the senior deputy to ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was a primary coordinator for moving large amounts of weapons, explosives, vehicles, and people between Iraq and Syria,” said Ned Price, spokesman of the National Security Council of the White House.
Al-Hayali was a member of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the predecessor to ISIL, and previously served as ISIL’s Baghdad military emir and the emir of Ninawa Province.
Lalit K Jha
