The U.S. Central Command on Friday said it had conducted an airstrike in cooperation with Iraq that killed the top ISIS leader in that country, Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, known as “Abu Khadijah,” and one other ISIS operative.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the location or the date when the video was filmed.
After the strike, which the U.S. military said happened on Thursday March 13, a DNA test on the deceased's remains confirmed Abu Khadijah had been killed, the Central Command said.
President Donald Trump later posted on Truth Social: "Today the fugitive leader of ISIS in Iraq was killed."
The US military's statement said Abu Khadijah was also the "Global ISIS #2 leader" who "maintained responsibility for operations, logistics and planning conducted by ISIS globally."
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