The Obama administration said Friday that the Islamic State’s second-in-command was killed by an airstrike.
Fadhil Ahmad al-Hayali, also known as Hajji Mutazz, was killed in a U.S. military airstrike on Tuesday while traveling in a vehicle near Mosul, Iraq, along with a terrorist media operative known as Abu Abdullah.
“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 national security council spokesman Ned Price.
He was instrumental in planning operations over the past two years, including the June 2014 offensive in Mosul by the Islamic State, also known as ISIS and ISIL.
“Al-Hayali’s death will adversely impact ISIL’s operations given that his influence spanned ISIL’s finance, media, operations, and logistics,” Mr. Price said.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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