Iraqi security forces have killed a senior Daesh group leader responsible for "foreign operations," Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani announced on Friday.
Although Iraq had proclaimed in 2017 the defeat of the jihadist group on its territory, Daesh cells have remained active and carry out sporadic attacks against Iraq's army and police.
Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rufayi "was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world," Sudani said on X.
The jihadist, sanctioned by the United States in 2023, was Daesh's so-called governor of the group's Syrian and Iraqi provinces, according to the Iraqi premier.
Rufayi was also "responsible for the foreign operations offices," Sudani said.
He did not say when Rufayi was killed but applauded the operation by Iraqi intelligence that was carried out in cooperation with the US-led anti-jihadist coalition in Iraq.
Last October, Baghdad said Iraqi forces had killed nine Daesh commanders. They included the so-called governor of Iraq for Daesh, Jassim al-Mazrouei Abu Abdel Qader, Iraq's Joint Operations Command said at the time.
Daesh in 2014 declared a "caliphate" after capturing large parts of Iraq and Syria, beginning a rule marked by atrocities.
Iraqi forces backed by the international coalition defeated Daesh in late 2017. The group lost its last territory in Syria two years later.
The group has, however, maintained a presence in Syria's vast desert, and in Iraq, largely carrying out attacks in rural areas.
About 2,500 American troops are deployed in Iraq, which now considers its security forces capable of confronting the jihadists.
The US and Iraq announced in late September that the international coalition would end its decade-long military mission in federal Iraq within a year, and by September 2026 in the autonomous Kurdistan region.
With AFP
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