 "US troops walk as an army helicopter flies over the village of Oreij in Iraq, 22 February 2017. Photograph. File Image/ AFP")
Four senior ISIS leaders were killed in a US-Iraqi military raid in western Iraq, last month. The confirmation came from the US military on Friday, in which they also mentioned that the terror group’s top operations leader in Iraq and its chief bombmaker were also killed in the raid.
The four senior leaders were among the 14 killed in the attack on August 29 when US and Iraqi forces raided four locations in western Iraq. Seven American service members who participated in the raid also lost their lives. In its recent update, the military said that Washington has a $5 million bounty on the bombmaker who died in the August raid, ABC News reported.
“This operation targeted ISIS leaders and served to disrupt and degrade ISIS’ ability to plan, organize, and conduct attacks against Iraqi civilians, as well as US citizens, allies, and partners throughout the region and beyond,” the United States Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement on Friday.
The key player Abu Ali al-Tunisi killed in the raids
In the Friday statement, the American military confirmed that during the raid the troops managed to kill key ISIS leader Abu Ali al-Tunisi. “As part of the ongoing post-raid assessment, CENTCOM can confirm that four ISIS leaders were killed including Ahmad Hamid Husayn Abd-al-Jalil al-Ithawi, responsible for all operations in Iraq, Abu Hammam, responsible for overseeing all operations in Western Iraq, Abu-‘Ali al-Tunisi, responsible for overseeing technical development, and Shakir Abud Ahmad al-Issawi, responsible for overseeing military operations in Western Iraq,” CENTCOM said in a statement.
On the US Department of Justice website, Tunisi was described as the " leader of manufacturing for ISIS in Iraq."
“He has conducted training for ISIS members, including instruction on how to make explosives, suicide vests, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs). Al-Tunisi also provided advanced training on weapons development and the manufacturing of chemical weapons,” the Rewards for Justice website said in a statement.
The website also has several photographs of the ISIS bomb maker. Before his death, the Justice Department noted that Tunisi had an injury to his right hand and right eye. It is pertinent to note that in December 2004, the US Department of State designated ISIS (formerly known as AQI) as a Foreign Terrorist Organization under section 219 of the Immigration and Nationality Act, as amended.
In the Friday statement, CENTCOM noted that some of the ISIS militants in the raid were armed with grenades and were wearing explosive suicide belts.