Suspected ISIS leader Al Qurashi 'killed in Syria'

The suspected leader of ISIS has been killed in Syria in an operation carried out by Turkey's MIT intelligence agency, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday.

"The suspected leader of Daesh, codename Abu Hussein Al Qurashi, has been neutralised in an operation carried out yesterday by the MIT in Syria," Mr Erdogan told TRT Turk broadcaster.

He said the MIT had been following Al Qurashi for a long time.

ISIS announced the death of its previous leader, Abu Hasan Al Hashimi Al Qurashi, on November 30, replacing him with Abu Hussein Al Qurashi.

Turkish intelligence agents and local military police, backed by Turkey, on Saturday sealed off a zone in Jindires, in the north-west region of Afrin, AFP reported.

Residents told AFP that an operation focused on an abandoned farm that was being used as an Islamic school.

Turkey has had troops in northern Syria since 2020, and controls entire zones with the help of Syrian auxiliaries.

The US carried out a helicopter raid in northern Syria in an operation in mid-April, saying ISIS had been planning attacks in Europe and the Middle East.

US Central Command said they had killed a senior leader of ISIS in the operation. They identified him as Abd-al Hadi Mahmud Al Haji Ali.

Suspected ISIS fighters killed at least 41 people, 24 of them civilians, on April 16 in Syria.

In the first week of April, the US said they had killed an ISIS leader responsible for planning attacks in Europe, identifying him as Khalid Aydd Ahmad Al Jabouri.

When it was at the height of its power, controlling large areas of Iraq and Syria, ISIS claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Europe.

In October 2019, Washington announced it had killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi in an operation in north-western Syria.

Despite having been driven out of much of the territory it once controlled, ISIS still launches attacks in Syria.