The United States announced on Friday that ISIS’ second-in-command, Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, also known as Haji Imam, has been killed in an operation carried out in Syria earlier this month.
US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter made the announcement at a Pentagon news conference on a day when news came that at least two Americans had been killed in Tuesday’s terrorist attacks in Brussels.
Widely regarded as heir apparent to ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, al-Qaduli was the terror outfit’s Finance Minister and carried a $7 million bounty on his head. He is the latest top ISIS commander reported killed by the US-led coalition forces. last week, the Pentagon had concluded that the group’s War Minister Omar al-Shishani had been killed in American strikes.
“We are systematically eliminating ISIl’s cabinet,” Carter said, noting: “The removal of this ISIl leader will hamper the organization’s ability for them to conduct operations both inside and outside of Iraq and Syria.”
At the same time, Carter conceded that striking the leadership, while necessary, was not enough since leaders could well be replaced. Making it clear that there would be no-let up in the operations, he said: “The momentum of this campaign is clearly on our side.”
Carter did not provide details as to precisely when and where the strikes that killed Haji Imam were carried out.
As the group’s Finance Minister, al-Qaduli oversaw and steered ISIS’ funding through its networks, Carter said. He also reportedly managed the group’s day-to-day operations in Syria, Iraq and libya.