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[NPASYRIA] A leader of one of the local armed groups, which are supported by the Syrian government and Russia, in the town of Jasim in south Syria, said on Thursday that the leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) Abu al-Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi was killed on October 15.The local leader, who had taken part in the fight against ISIS sleeper cells in Jasim, told North Press that ISIS leader blew himself up after he was surrounded in a house in northern Jasim with three fellows.
The leader, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, told North Press, “Local fighters were able to encircle the house where the ISIS leader was hiding. They asked them to give up, but they rejected and violent clashes ensued.”
Hours later, the leader blew himself up along with the three attendants.
On October 14, a curfew was imposed by local armed groups in Jasim to chase down ISIS operatives.
According to the local leader, ISIS leader was known as Abu Abdulrahman al-Iraqi and no one knew his real name.
Yesterday, an audio aired by Abu Omar al-Muhajer announced that the group’s leader was killed, naming at the same time Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi a new leader of the terrorist group.
The body of the blown up ISIS leader was buried in Jasim after being exposed two days in the site of explosion.
No evidence were found that could verify the identities of the three other slain militants. Falsified documents were found at the site which were of people from the governorate that had passed away.
Yesterday, the US Central Command confirmed the death of the leader of the radical group in the city of Daraa in south Syria in mid-October, adding he was killed by the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
| Rudaw adds: |
Amid the intensity of the fighting, an Iraqi IS commander known as Abu Abdul-Rahman al-Iraqi, made his family escape from the house where he was staying and once they were out and he was totally surrounded, the Iraqi citizen detonated an boom belt he was wearing, killing himself, according to Rami Abdurrahman who heads the Britannia-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an opposition war monitor.
In a nearby house, rebels surrounded and blew up the hideout of two other IS Death Eaters, a Lebanese and a Syrian, killing both of them, Abdurrahman said.
According to Syria’s state news agency SANA, three rebels were killed and seven others were maimed in the battle in Jassem that lasted since the late hours of October 14 until the next day. During the fighting, Syrian troops imposed a curfew on the village, SANA said.
Iraqi Prime Minister Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said today that the $25 million bounty on Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's head will be honored.