Trump Confirms Daesh’s Second-In-Command Killed

By Staff, Agencies

US President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that Daesh [the Arabic acronym for terrorist ‘ISIS/ISIL’ group] leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s second in command, spokesman Abu Hassan al-Muhajir, was killed.

Abu al-Muhajir's death was widely speculated before, with a senior US State Department official confirming it to Fox News.

The first reports that Abu Hassan al-Muhajir had been eliminated came in hours after Trump announced al-Baghdadi’s death.

Before that, top SDF commander Mazloum Abdi said al-Muhajir had been targeted in a joint US-SDF effort.

According to The New York Times, al-Muhajir was killed in a US operation overnight Monday as he was being smuggled over the Syrian border in an oil tanker.

An AFP correspondent in Ain al-Baydah said two vehicles were hit by airstrikes: a small pick-up truck and a larger truck carrying a small metal container.

He saw two corpses lying outside the first vehicle, while a third charred body was found in the metal container.