“Turkish forces have killed the suspected leader of the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has announced.
Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi is said to have taken over the group after his predecessor was killed last autumn.
Mr Erdogan told broadcaster TRT Turk the IS leader was ‘neutralised’ in a Turkish MIT intelligence agency operation on Saturday [4/29/2023].
IS has so far made no comment on the reported operation.
The BBC has been unable to independently verify President Erdogan’s claim.”
– BBC News, “Suspected Islamic State Chief Qurayshi Killed in Syria, Turkey Says,” bbc.com, May 1, 2023
Editor’s Note: According to most historians of the Islamic State (also referred to as ISIS, ISIL, and Daesh), “the group emerged out of al-Qaeda in Iraq as a response to the U.S. invasion in 2003.” See Hassan Hassan, “The True Origins of ISIS,” theatlantic.com, November 30, 2018, for more information.