Islamic State leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed during a U.S. counterterrorism operation in northwestern Syria on Wednesday night, President Joe Biden said in a statement.
“Last night at my direction, U.S. military forces in northwest Syria successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation to protect the American people and our allies, and make the world a safer place,” Biden said.
Qurayshi detonated a bomb that killed himself and members of his family, including women and children, at the beginning of the operation, according to a senior U.S. official.
The operation was conducted by special operations forces under the control of U.S. Central Command, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.
Qurayshi took over as leader of the terror organization after former leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed in a U.S. raid in 2019. He oversaw the group’s attacks on the Yazidi religious minority in Iraq.
Though the influence of the group waned as Syrian and Iraqi forces — variously backed by the U.S. and its allies, as well as Iran and Russia — largely eliminated its territorial holdings in recent years, the group was never completely eradicated.
Biden is expected to address the nation about the mission at 9:30 a.m. ET from the White House in Washington, D.C.
