Turkey offers details of ISIS chief’s death
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A member of the Turkish-backed military police standing guard outside a house in Syria reportedly used by the ISIS chief.
PHOTO: AFP
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ISTANBUL – Turkey released new details on Monday about its successful operation against the global chief of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), saying he died by setting off a suicide vest to avoid being detained.
Referring to the Arabic acronym for ISIS, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Sunday
Turkey’s Anadolu state news agency gave the chief’s full name as Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi, saying he joined ISIS in 2013 and quickly rose through the militant group’s ranks.
Turkish media also released images of a fenced-off building in the middle of a field where it said Qurashi was hiding in Syria’s Afrin province.
A section of the two-storey house was sheared off, apparently from blasts.
ISIS announced the death of its previous leader, Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi, on Nov 30, 2022.
Anadolu said Turkey’s MIT intelligence agency conducted a four-hour operation, during which it located and surrounded al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi last Saturday.
MIT agents blasted apart a stone wall that surrounded the house before entering through a rear entrance and side windows.
Qurashi set off his suicide vest when he realised he was about to be captured, Anadolu said, adding that no Turkish operatives were killed or injured.
A house reportedly used by suspected Islamic State in Iraq and Syria leader Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi in the village of Maska, north of Jindires, Syria.
PHOTO: AFP
An AFP correspondent in northern Syria said the operation had targeted an abandoned farm that was being used as an Islamic school.
Turkey has deployed troops in northern Syria since 2020, and controls entire zones with the help of Syrian proxies.
At its height, when it controlled swathes of Iraq and Syria, the ISIS group claimed responsibility for a series of attacks in Europe.
In October 2019, Washington announced it had killed ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi in north-western Syria, and several of the group’s top commanders have since been killed in raids.
Despite having been driven out of much of the territory it once controlled, the group still launches attacks in Syria. AFP
