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1st LD: 2nd top IS leader killed in air strike in northern Iraq

Xinhua, May 13, 2015 Adjust font size:

The number two leader of the Islamic State (IS) militant group on Wednesday believed to have been killed in a U.S.-led coalition air strike in northern Iraq, said the Iraqi Defense Ministry.

"Based on accurate intelligence reports, the U.S.-led coalition carried out an air strike on the second man of Daesh (IS in Arabic) terrorist gangs Abu Ala Afri, and a large number of members of criminal gangs while they were holding a meeting at al-Shuhadaa mosque in the town of Tal Afar," the ministry said in a statement.

The attack occurred in the IS-held town of Tal Afar, some 70 km west of Nineveh's provincial capital city of Mosul, which itself located some 400 km north of the Iraqi capital of Baghdad.

Earlier, unconfirmed reports claimed that top IS leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, believed to have been severely injured in an air strike, and that Abu Alaa al-Afri is his temporary successor while Baghdadi is recovering from his wounds. Endit