Senior IS leader killed in airstrike on Diyala-Salahuddin borders

Diyala (IraqiNews.com) A senior Islamic State leader was killed while two of his companions were wounded in an airstrike that targeted the borders between Diyala and Salahuddin.

Local sources in Diyala said Friday that the dead militant, nicknamed Abu Suhaib, was killed in an airstrike that targeted the region of Mutaibija, but could not verify the affiliation of the jets.

They added that Abu Suhaib was the son-in-law of the Islamic State’s “emir” (governor) of Hawi al-Udhaim (63 km north of Baqubah).

Many Is leaders were killed in occasional airstrikes on Mutaibija, where the extremist group has struggled to reinforce its presence.

Iraqi forces, backed by a U.S.-led military coalition, have been fighting Islamic State militants in several pockets across Iraq, most notably the city of Mosul, where operations since October killed at least 3300 militants and confined the group in the city’s western section.

Since the launch of operations in October, Islamic State has been reportedly sustaining serious losses in personnel, equipment and finances, and reports say it had been ravaged with divisions and infighting, with some fighters also executed or demoted for escaping the battlefield.

The United Nations’ envoy to Iraq, Yan Kubish, said Thursday that the group’s days in Iraq were “numbered”.