Islamic State Syria chief killed in US drone strike, Pentagon says
- Militant leader Maher al-Agal was riding a motorcycle at the time of the attack, which also left one of his top aides seriously injured
- The US called al-Agal ‘one of the top five’ Isis leaders, responsible for aggressively pursuing the development of Isis networks outside Iraq and Syria
A man who US officials called the leader of the Islamic State militant group in Syria was killed on Tuesday in a drone strike, the Pentagon said.
Maher al-Agal was killed while riding a motorcycle near Jindires in northern Syria, and one of his top aides was seriously injured, Pentagon Central Command spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Dave Eastburn said.
The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights confirmed Agal was killed in a drone strike.
The volunteer Syrian Civil Defence Force, known as the “White Helmets”, said one person was killed and another injured in a strike that targeted a motorcycle outside Aleppo, but did not identify the victims.
There was little information available about Agal, whom the Observatory called the Islamic State governor for the Levant. The US Central Command called him “one of the top five” leaders of Islamic State overall.
“In addition to being a senior leader within the group, al-Agal was responsible for aggressively pursuing the development of Isis networks outside of Iraq and Syria,” it said in a statement.