US kills Daesh leaders linked to Paris attack

WASHINGTON

The U.S.-led coalition has killed 10 Daesh leaders, including some linked to terror attacks in Paris, coalition spokesman said Tuesday.

"Sharafi al-Modein, he was a Syrian-based ISIL member with a direct link to Abdel Hamid Abud, the Paris attack cell leader. We killed him on Dec. 24 in Syria. Al-Modein was actively planning additional attacks against the West," said Col. Steve Warren.

He did not share information about whether any of the attacks included plots against the U.S. homeland but noted that the militant group has an ultimate goal to attack the U.S.

Last week, the coalition killed two other Daesh leaders, Abdul Kadir Hakeem and Tashin al-Hayali, who authorities say were external operations facilitators for the group.

Hakeem was a veteran fighter, forgery specialist and also had links to the Paris attack network, according to Warren. He was killed Dec. 26 near Mosul.

Al-Hayali was also killed near Mosul on Dec. 27.

The list included Rawan Dishlar Tahir, an external operations facilitator killed Dec. 7 near Raqqa, Syria. He was a trusted with the handling and transfer of money and equipment, said Warren.

The group’s Kirkuk emir, Khalil Ahmed Ali al-Weis, also known as Abu Wadha, was also killed the same day, he added.

On Dec. 8, Abu Anass, an improvised explosive device or IED cell facilitator, was killed near Kirkuk.

A day later, the coalition killed Younis Kalash, also known as Abu Jawdak, who was the "deputy financial emir in Mosul", and Nithak Najen who was the "deputy emir in Kirkuk Province", Warren said.

Coalition aircraft killed two other Daesh leaders Dec. 10, including a Syria-based Bangladeshi named Sihful Haq Sujen and Akram Muhammed Sayeed Faris, also known as Akram Abu.

According to Warren, Sujan who was killed near Raqqa, was an external operations planner who was educated as a computer systems engineer in the United Kingdom.

"He supported ISIL's hacking efforts, their anti-surveillance technology and their weapons development. Now that he's dead, ISIL has lost a key link between their networks," he said.