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Islamic state confirms death of its leader, names new chief

The former leader blew himself up in early February during a US raid in northwest Syria
Last Updated 10 March 2022, 17:19 IST

The Islamic State jihadist group confirmed the death of its leader Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi in a statement Thursday and named Abu Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi as his replacement.

IS jihadists have "pledged allegiance" to "Abu Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurashi as an emir over believers and the caliph of Muslims," the group's spokesperson said in an audio recording.

The recording confirmed the death of the former IS chief along with the group's ex-spokesman.

"Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi and the official Islamic State group spokesman... Abu Hamza al-Qurashi...were killed in recent days," the new spokesperson said.

The former leader blew himself up in early February during a US raid in northwest Syria, according to Washington, in an area controlled by rival jihadists.

Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, who led IS from 2019, was an ethnic Turkmen from the Iraqi city of Tal Afar. He replaced IS supremo Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who was killed in a US raid in October that year.

Little is known about the new leader, who will serve as the group's third chief since it's inception.

He rises to the helm at a time when the group has been weakened by US-backed operations in Iraq and Syria aiming to thwart a jihadist resurgence.

IS' self-declared caliphate, established from 2014, once stretched across vast parts of Syria and Iraq and administered millions of inhabitants.

A long and deadly military fightback led by Kurdish-Syrian and Iraqi forces with backing from the United States and other powers eventually defeated the jihadist proto-state in March 2019.

The remnants of IS in Syria mostly went to their desert hideouts from which they continue to harass Kurdish-led forces and Syrian government troops.

A UN report last year estimated that around 10,000 IS fighters remained active across Iraq and Syria.

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(Published 10 March 2022, 17:01 IST)

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