Tampa, Fla. – On March 13, U.S. Central Command forces, in cooperation with Iraqi Intelligence and Security Forces, conducted a precision airstrike in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, that killed the Global ISIS #2 leader, chief of operations and the Delegated Committee Emir – Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, alias “Abu Khadijah”, and one other ISIS operative.
As the Emir of ISIS’ most senior decision-making body, Abu Khadijah maintained responsibility for operations, logistics, and planning conducted by ISIS globally, and directs a significant portion of finance for the group’s global organization. After the strike, CENTCOM and Iraqi forces moved to the strike site and found both dead ISIS operatives. Both terrorists were wearing unexploded “suicide vests” and had multiple weapons. CENTCOM and Iraqi forces were able to identify Abu Khadijah through a DNA match from DNA collected on a previous raid where Abu Khadijah narrowly escaped.
Read more…
Source: U.S. Central Command
Sign up for Counter-IED Report Newsletter
Related:
- Iraq: 2 killed, injured in mine explosion in Iraq
January 14, 2023
Two civilians were killed and injured following the explosion of a mine left by ISIL terrorists in the west of Al Anbar province of Iraq. One civilian was killed and another one was injured during the incident, a PMU official announced. Read more… Source: MEHR News Agency
- Iraq: Kurdistan Region records over 30 causalities to mines last year
January 12, 2023
The remains of decades-old explosives in the Kurdistan Region have killed or wounded over 30 people in 2022, according to figures published by the mines’ authority. A total of 24 people were wounded by unexploded mines across Iraq’s Kurdish region last year, mostly in the border areas with neighboring countries that had witnessed numerous battles, including ...
- Iraq reopens Baghdad’s Green Zone to ease traffic jams
January 8, 2023
Iraqi authorities reopened Baghdad’s heavily fortified Green Zone on Sunday in an attempt to ease traffic jams in the capital after it was closed and reopened several times in recent years. Starting in the early hours of the day, Iraqi authorities removed checkpoints and opened major roads and tunnels that cut through the zone on the ...
- Iraq: Explosion in Erbil Governorate kills two soldiers, injures three
December 22, 2022
Two soldiers were killed and three were injured in an explosion in northern Iraq, Iraqi state news said Thursday. The soldiers were traveling in an army vehicle a day earlier in the Makhmour district when an explosive device detonated, the state Iraqi News Agency reported. No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack. It was the latest ...
- Iraq: At least nine police killed in blast near Kirkuk
December 18, 2022
At least nine Iraqi federal police officers have been killed in a bomb blast near Iraq’s north-central city of Kirkuk, security sources told news agency. The sources said those killed on Sunday were traveling in a convoy when the bomb struck. The blast took place near the village of Safra, which lies about 30 km (20 miles) ...
- Iraq: Bomb explosion kills three children in Nineveh province
December 17, 2022
A mortar, believed to have been left by the Islamic State (ISIS), exploded to a number of children in Bashiqa town, Nineveh province on Saturday, killing three and injuring another, according to a local official. Rafaat Smo, deputy governor of Nineveh, told Rudaw on Saturday that a number of children played with a mortar in the ...
- Turkish soldier killed by terrorist IED in northern Iraq
December 6, 2022
A Turkish soldier was killed in Türkiye’s anti-terror operation zone in northern Iraq, near the countries’ shared border, the Turkish National Defense Ministry said Monday. Mehmet Duman died after a bomb blast in Türkiye’s Operation Claw-Lock zone, the ministry said in a statement. PKK terrorists placed the improvised explosive device in an area where Turkish forces are ...
- The Government of Italy continues its support to explosive hazards management activities in Iraq
November 23, 2022
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) welcomes an additional contribution of EUR 1,000,000 (approximately USD 999,500) from the Government of Italy, which will support life-saving mine action activities in Iraq. Activities will include delivering sustainable and efficient explosive hazard management and providing technical and advisory support to national mine action authorities. Iraq suffers from various ...
- France Renews its Commitment to Protecting Civilians Impacted by Explosive Ordnance in Iraq
November 15, 2022
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) welcomes the contribution of EUR 500,000 (approximately USD 495,370) from the Government of France, which will support the Government of Iraq in its efforts to protect civilians impacted by the threat of explosive ordnance and enable humanitarian action, peacebuilding and socio-economic development. Legacy landmine contamination and other explosive remnants ...
- Belgium provides an additional EUR 1,000,000 for UNMAS activities in Iraq
November 15, 2022
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) in Iraq welcomes an additional contribution of EUR 1,000,000 (approximately USD 980K) from the Government of Belgium, which will support the Government of Iraq in protecting civilians impacted by the threat of explosive ordnance and enabling humanitarian action, peacebuilding and socio-economic development. Thirty-seven years of conflicts, with the most ...
- Iraq: Demining agency clears minefields near Choman
November 10, 2022
The Explosive Ordnance Disposal team of Mine Action Agency cleared some minefields in Choman city near the Iraqi-Iranian border on Nov. 9, according to the announcement of Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG). The agency’s demining teams of DE1 and Mechanical in cooperation with Slovenian Enhancing Human Security (ITF), destroyed 22 mines and 20 Unexploded ordnances (UXO) in ...
- Iraq: Two UN employees killed by landmine at explosive ordnance clearance site near Basra
October 24, 2022
Two Iraqi UN employees were killed and a third person injured in an accident on Monday near the southern Iraqi city of Basra. The staff members were part of a team working for the UN’s Mine Action Service (Unmas) at an explosive ordnance clearance site at the Shatt al Arab port. “The incident occurred in the early ...
- Iraq: IED explosion kills Peshmerga officer, wounds seven others
October 19, 2022
In improvised explosive device (IED) attacks in the Garmiyan region of Sulaimani province on Wednesday, at least a Peshmerga officer was killed and seven others were wounded, the Kurdish force announced. The forces were deployed in Tawer Kawa village of Zinana and Palkana in Garmiyan as part of a sweeping anti-ISIS operation while the IEDs struck ...
- Iraq: Car bomb kills PUK counter-terrorism official in Erbil
October 7, 2022
A car exploded in the Kurdistan Region’s capital of Erbil on Friday afternoon, killing the driver and injuring several others. The Region’s counter-terrorism directorate (CTD) said the explosion was due to a “sticky bomb” attached to the vehicle. The explosion occurred in Erbil city’s 32 Park neighborhood and targeted the car of a former Patriotic Union ...
- Iraq: PMF raids an IED factory in Salah al-Din
September 10, 2022
The Popular Mobilization Authority announced the destruction of a laboratory for explosive devices belonging to terrorist gangs, northwest of Salah al-Din. The commission said in a statement received by the Iraqi News Agency (INA), that “the Salah al-Din Operations Command of the Popular Mobilization carried out, on Saturday, a large-scale search and security operation on Salah ...
- Iraq: Australian embassy car hit by IED in Baghdad
August 27, 2022
An improvised explosive device in Baghdad’s Green Zone slightly damaged a vehicle belonging to the Australian embassy in Iraq on Friday, without causing any casualties, a security source said. A multi-car Australian embassy convoy was travelling through the high security Green Zone when the device went off, an Iraqi security source said, declining to be identified. The ...
- Iraq arrests suspect who armored vehicles, made explosives for ISIS
August 13, 2022
Iraqi security forces on Saturday released a video confession of a suspect who armored vehicles for the Islamic State (ISIS) in Salahaddin province and made improvised explosive devices (IEDs) for the terror group. “They tasked me with armoring vehicles and making improvised explosives. We started armoring the vehicles and prepared 45 vehicles … in less ...
- Turkey: Two TSK soldiers killed in Op Euphrates Shield, one in Op Claw zone
July 28, 2022
Three Turkish soldiers have been killed in the Euphrates Shield and Claw zone operations the Defense Ministry has announced. The ministry said in a statement that two soldiers were killed after harassment fire opened in the Euphrates Shield Operation zone by the members of the terrorist organization. Another soldier, who was wounded due to the blast from ...
- Two Bomb-Laden Drones Downed Near Turkish Base in Iraq
July 22, 2022
Two bomb-laden drones targeting a Turkish military base in northern Iraq were shot down Friday, a local mayor said, amid heightened tensions days after nine Iraqi civilians died in shelling blamed on Turkey. The Turkish army has maintained dozens of outposts over the past 25 years across northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region as part of its ...
- Armenia signs memorandum with Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency
July 12, 2022
The Center for Humanitarian Demining and Expertise (Center) of Armenia hosted a delegation from the Iraqi Kurdistan Mine Action Agency (IKMAA), the Center informs Armenian News-NEWS.am. The IKMAA representatives, led by the deputy director Niyazi Khalid, visited the Center’s training center, got acquainted with the Center’s activities, and exchanged experience. Also, a memorandum of understanding was signed ...
- IED explodes under vehicle carrying demining team in northern Iraq
July 6, 2022
An Improvised Explosive Device (IED) blew up under a vehicle carrying a demining team in northern Iraq on Tuesday, injuring seven personnel, according to a press statement issued by the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI). The IED exploded under a minibus that was transporting a demining team of Iraqi men and women from Global ...
- Iraq: Two Killed, Four Injured in Roadside Blasts in Nineveh
July 3, 2022
Two people were killed while four others were wounded on Saturday after Daesh militants attacked northern and central Iraq. According to security sources, the first attack took place in Nineveh Governate, which borders Syria, where one soldier was killed and two civilians were wounded after a roadside bomb exploded. The blast, which Iraqi security officials ...