Iraq says senior Daesh leader killed in Mosul airstrike

By Arif Yusuf

NINEVEH, Iraq

A senior aide to Daesh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi has been killed in an airstrike in the northern city of Mosul, the Iraqi army said Sunday.

The army said in a statement Daesh leader Abu Osama was killed when a warplane struck his hideout in Talasqaf town, south of Mosul.

“He and a number of his aides were killed in the strike,” it added.

Last week, the Iraqi army, backed by U.S.-led coalition airstrikes, launched a much-anticipated offensive to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city which was overrun by the terrorist group in 2014.

Recent months have seen the Iraqi army, backed by local allies on the ground and a U.S.-led air coalition, retake much territory seized by Daesh in 2014. Nevertheless, the terrorist group remains in control of several parts of the country, including Mosul.

In recent weeks, the army and its allies have staged a gradual advance on the city, which officials in Baghdad have vowed to recapture by year’s end.