Turkish forces have killed leader of Islamic State, Erdogan says

by Karen Faulkner, Worthy News Correspondent

(Worthy News) – Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced Sunday that Turkish forces have killed Abu Hussein al-Qurayshi, the suspected leader of Islamic State in neighboring Syria, the New York Post reports. Turkey currently controls sections of territory in northern Syria since being allowed to carry out land incursions against Kurdish groups it claims are terrorists.

Speaking on TRT Turk television, Erdogan said al-Qurayshi was killed in a strike conducted on Saturday, the Post reports. Al-Qurayshi is believed to have become leader of Islamic State in Syria and Iraq after his predecessor was killed in a strike last year.

Asserting that the Turkish intelligence agency MIT, had been tracking al-Qurayshi “for a long time,” Erdogan said: “We will continue our struggle against terrorist organizations without discriminating against any of them,” Erdogan said in the interview.

Following the intervention of international forces, IS lost the territory it had captured in Syria and Iraq: al-Qurayshi was reportedly seeking to revive the terror group’s influence in the region by carrying out deadly attacks in each of those two countries.

“[Islamic State] is estimated to have between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq, who are based mostly in rural areas and continue to carry out hit-and-run attacks, ambushes and roadside bombings,” BBC News said in its report on Erdogan’s announcement.

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