Turkish intelligence forces have killed Islamic State’s leader, Abu Hussein al-Qurashi, in Syria, Turkey’s president has said.
“This individual was neutralised as part of an operation by the Turkish national intelligence organisation in Syria yesterday,” Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said in an interview with the broadcaster TRT Türk on Sunday.
He said the intelligence organisation had pursued Qurashi for a long time.
Syrian local and security sources said the raid took place in the northern Syrian town of Jandaris, which is controlled by Turkey-backed rebel groups and was one of the worst-affected in the 6 February earthquake that hit Turkey and Syria.
The Syrian national army, an opposition faction with a security presence in the area, did not immediately issue any comment.
One resident said clashes started on the edge of Jandaris overnight from Saturday into Sunday, lasting for about an hour before residents heard a large explosion. The area was later encircled by security forces to prevent anyone from approaching the area.
Residents said an operation had targeted an abandoned farm that was being used as an Islamic school.
IS selected al-Qurashi as its leader in November 2022 after the previous IS leader was killed in an operation in southern Syria.
Islamic State took over vast swathes of Iraq and Syria in 2014, and its head at the time, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, declared an Islamic caliphate across territory that housed millions.
But IS lost its grip on the territory after campaigns by US-backed forces in Syria and Iraq, as well as Syrian forces backed by Iran, Russia and various paramilitaries.
Its remaining thousands of militants have in recent years mostly hid out in remote hinterlands of both countries, though they are still capable of carrying out major hit-and-run attacks.
The US-led coalition alongside a Kurdish-led alliance known as the Syrian Democratic Forces is still carrying out raids against IS officials in Syria.
In some cases, senior IS figures have been targeted while hiding out in areas where Turkey has major influence.
The US carried out a helicopter raid in northern Syria in an operation in mid-April, saying the Islamic State group had been planning attacks in Europe and the Middle East.
US central command said it had killed a senior leader of the IS group in the operation, naming him as Abd-al Hadi Mahmud al-Haji Ali.
With Agence France-Presse
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