Abu Omar al-Shishani, one of the most wanted ISIS commander, was reportedly killed by a US airstrike earlier this week.
One of the Islamic State's senior commanders Abu Omar has died of his wounds last week. He was injured by US airstrikes in Syria near the city of Shaddadi earlier this month, according to CNN. Twelve other ISIS militants including his bodyguards are also assumed to have been killed in the strikes.
Omar al-Shishani was a Georgian citizen, known as 'Omar the Chechen,' in the Islamic State network. He had a designation similar to 'minister of war' in the ISIS military command.
"We assess he's dead," said US military spokesman Col. Steve Warren.
After the airstrikes, ISIS said on social media that al-Shishani was wounded. The US intelligence also noted that his intercepts had gone silent.
However, ISIS' media group, Aamaq agency, later contradicted the report, saying that al-Shishani had not died nor had sustained any injuries.
Accounts from other sources seem to indicate that he is indeed dead. The head of Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdel Rahman, said that Omar was admitted to a hospital in Raqqa, which still remains under ISIS control.
"Shishani is not able to breathe on his own and is using machines. He has been clinically dead for several days," Rahman was quoted as saying by AFP.
al-Shishani was targeted outside the Syrian town of Shadadi on March 4, which was the site of intense fighting between the Islamic State and Syrian Democratic Forces and Syrian Kurd militia, with the US Army providing logistic support. The alliance backed by the US tried to take back the town near the Iraqi border that has a strategic significance in the war against ISIS.
al-Shishani, whose real name is Tarkhan Tayumurazovich Batirashvili, was a former Georgian military veteran, who was among thousands of foreign militants fighting for the Islamic State. He was reputed as one of ISIS' most battle-hardened commanders, with a $5 million reward on him from the US State Department.
He is believed to have been sent to Shaddadi to strengthen and reinforce ISIS militia after it suffered a series of setbacks at the hands of opposing forces.
There have been previous reports of his death, which later proved false. In 2014, Russia alleged that he died in Chechnya, but the reports were not verified. He was later found to have survived the war in the Northern Caucus.
Earlier this week, US confirmed al-Shishani's death but did not comment on the circumstances of his death.
