Iraqi officials say ISIS deputy killed in air strike

Abu Alaa al-Afri.
(Image credit: Twitter.com/NcoleWilliams)

Iraq's ministry of defense says that Abdul Rahman Mustafa Mohammed, the second-in-command of the Islamic State, was killed in an air strike in northern Iraq.

See more

Spokesman Brig. Gen. Tahsin Ibrahim told the BBC that Mohammed, also known as Abu Alaa al-Afrai, was at a meeting with other militants at the al-Shuhada mosque near Tal Afar, and dozens were killed in the strike. He had a $7 million U.S. bounty on his head, and once served as the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq in Mosul.

The general did not say what country carried out the strike, but the U.S. says coalition aircraft did not target a mosque. A source told The Associated Press the strike took place on Tuesday.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Continue reading for free

We hope you're enjoying The Week's refreshingly open-minded journalism.

Subscribed to The Week? Register your account with the same email as your subscription.

Catherine Garcia

Catherine Garcia is night editor for TheWeek.com. Her writing and reporting has appeared in Entertainment Weekly and EW.com, The New York Times, The Book of Jezebel, and other publications. A Southern California native, Catherine is a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.