Star of ISIL execution video killed by U.S. airstrike

Special to WorldTribune.com

A senior leader for Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) who had appeared in several of the terror group’s execution videos was killed in a U.S.-led coalition airstrike in Iraq on May 6, the Pentagon said.

Abu Wahib, a senior Islamic State leader in Iraq’s Anbar province, and three other jihadists have been killed by a US airstrike. /AFP/Getty Images
Abu Wahi and three other ISIL jihadists were killed by a U.S. airstrike. /AFP/Getty Images

Abu Wahib, a top ISIL leader in Iraq’s Anbar province, and three other ISIL jihadists were killed when their vehicle was hit on May 6 in Rutba, according to Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook.

Wahib had been with Al Qaida in Iraq when he was detained by U.S. forces in 2009. He was transferred to an Iraqi prison following the U.S. withdrawal in 2011 and escaped in 2012.

Cook said Wahib’s death was a blow to the group’s leadership.

“ISIL leadership has been hit hard by coalition efforts and this is another example of that,” he said. “It is dangerous to be an ISIL leader in Iraq and Syria nowadays.”

Unconfirmed reports in the past had suggested Wahib was targeted by strikes, but this is the first time the Pentagon has confirmed his death.

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