A senior Islamic State leader was killed in a U.S. airstrike on Aug. 30, the Pentagon confirmed Monday evening.
“The Department of Defense has confirmed that the U.S. precision airstrike on Aug. 30 targeting senior ISIL leader Abu Muhammad Al-Adnani was successful,” Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook said in a statement. “The strike near Al Bab, Syria, removes from the battlefield ISIL’s chief propagandist, recruiter and architect of external terrorist operations. It is one in a series of successful strikes against ISIL leaders, including those responsible for finances and military planning, that make it harder for the group to operate.”
An Islamic State-affiliated news website initially reported Adnani’s death in Aleppo, Syria, but U.S. officials were only able to publicly confirm the news Monday. Adnani had served as principal architect of the organization’s external operations and its chief spokesman. The State Department labeled him a “specially designated global terrorist” in 2014.
The Pentagon vowed to continue targeting Islamic State’s “parent tumor in Iraq and Syria, combat its metastases around the world, and protect our homeland.”
