United States President Joe Biden said in a press conference on Thursday the Islamic State leader Haji Abdullah Qurayshi has been killed in an operation by the US Special Forces. He said that the IS leader was cornered by the US forces and he detonated a bomb, killing himself and his family. The US forces have returned home safely, the White House announced.
Qurayshi took over as the global leader of the Islamic State in 2019 when it’s then-chief, Abu Bakar Al-Baghdadi, was killed in a raid by the US forces. Baghdadi was also cornered in a tunnel when he was trying to escape. He set off his suicide vest laden with explosives, killing himself and his family.
Announcing Qurayshi’s death, President Biden said that his death has “removed a major terrorist threat to the world.” Biden said that Qurayshi had chosen to surround himself with families for protection. “We made a choice to pursue a Special Forces raid at a much greater risk to our people rather than targeting him with an airstrike. We made this choice to minimize civilian casualties”, he said.
US officials did not provide the identity of the IS deputy also killed in the raid but provided the details of the attack that reportedly took several months of planning. The officials said that the Qurayshi’s death will be a major blow to the group, but it will eventually recover and regroup.
The Islamic State has so far not made any comments about the incident.
The raid targeted a three-storey residential building on the outskirts of the opposition-held town of Atmeh, which is in northern Idlib province and close to the border with Turkey. The region is a stronghold of jihadist groups that are fierce rivals of IS, as well as Turkish-backed rebel factions fighting the Syrian government.
Intelligence reports confirmed that Qurayshi was living with his family on the second floor of the residential building in Atmeh from where he ran the Islamic State using couriers to dispatch his orders throughout Syria and outside.