Airstrike kills Daesh second-in-command in W. Iraq

By Amer al-Hassani

BAGHDAD

Iraqi authorities said Saturday the second-in-command of the Daesh terrorist group was killed in an airstrike in western Iraq.

In a televised statement, the Iraqi Air Force Command said Abu Yahya, Daesh's war minister, was killed along with two other group leaders in the strike that targeted a Daesh site in al-Qaem town in the western Anbar province.

There was no comment from Daesh on the claim.

In February, Iraqi ground forces -- backed by U.S.-led coalition air power -- began fresh operations aimed at ousting Daesh militants from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last bastion in northern Iraq.

The offensive is part of a wider campaign launched last October to retake the entire city, which Daesh overran in mid-2014.