IS propaganda chief dies in Syria
BEIRUT, August 30
Islamic State spokesman and head of external operations Abu Muhammad al-Adnani, one of the jihadist group’s longest-serving and most prominent leaders, has been killed in Aleppo province in Syria.
Adnani had been one of the last remaining members who founded IS along with the group’s self-appointed caliph Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.
As IS spokesman, he was its most visible member. As head of external operations, he was in charge of attacks overseas, an increasingly important tactic for the group as its core Iraqi and Syrian territory has been eroded by military losses.
IS Amaq News Agency reported that Adnani was killed “while surveying the operations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo”.
Amaq did not say how Adnani, born Taha Subhi Falaha in Syria's Idlib Province in 1977, was killed. Islamic State published a eulogy dated Aug. 29 but giving no further details.
A senior Syrian rebel official said Adnani was most probably killed in the Islamic State-held city of al-Bab in an air strike. Adnani has been the chief propagandist for the jihadist group since he declared in a June 2014 that it was establishing a caliphate. — Reuters
