BAGHDAD // Iraqi air strikes have killed ISIL’s deputy leader, Iraq’s state television reported on Saturday.
Ayad Al Jumaili was killed with other ISIL commanders in a strike in the Al Qaim region, near the border with Syria, the channel said, citing Iraqi intelligence.
It described him as the “second-in-command” to ISIL leader Abubakr Al Baghdadi, and the extremist group’s “war minister”.
A spokesman for the US-led coalition against ISIL could not immediately be reached for comment.
The Iraqi government said its air force also killed between 150 and 200 ISIL militants in strikes further north along the Syrian border.
Fighter jets struck three targets in Baaj, a remote town west of Mosul, it said.
No date was given for either of the attacks.
Iraqi forces, backed by the US-led coalition, are battling to retake Mosul, ISIL’s last stronghold in Iraq and the city where Al Baghdadi declared a caliphate nearly three years ago.
It is not clear whether Al Baghdadi is still there, but US and Iraqi officials have said they believe he has left operational commanders behind with diehard followers to continue fighting in the city, and is now hiding among desert tribes in northern Iraq.
The government said the militants killed in Baaj had crossed over from Syria, where ISIL is under increasing pressure from US-backed forces in Raqqa city, its stronghold there.
* Reuters and Associated Press
