US official says IS chief blew himself up along with family during raid in Syria

United States President Joe Biden announces the death of ISIS leader Abu Ibrahim alHashimi alQurayshildquoThanks to the skill and bravery of our Armed Forces we have taken off the battlefield Abu Ibrahim alHashimi alQurayshi mdash the leader of ISISrdquo Biden said in a statement All Americans involved in the operation he claimed were safeLast night at my direction US military forces successfully undertook a counterterrorism operation Thanks to the bravery of our Armed Forces we have removed from the battlefield Abu Ibrahim alHashimi alQurayshi mdash the leader of ISIShttpstcolsYQHE9lR9mdash President Biden POTUS February 3 2022Biden said he would address the American people later Thursday on the raidA US official said that the Islamic State leader exploded a bomb that killed him and members of his family including women and children during US raid in SyriaEarly Thursday US special troops carried out a largescale counterterrorism raid in northwestern Syria according to the Pentagon Thirteen individuals were killed according to first responders including six children and four womenResidents said helicopters hovered overhead and US Marines engaged in a twohour gunfight with gunmen surrounding a twostory house bordered by olive trees They described incessant gunfire and explosions jolting the peaceful village of Atmeh near the Turkish border which is littered with camps for internally displaced SyriansldquoThe mission was successfulrdquo Pentagon press secretary John Kirby said in a brief statement earlier without identifying the target ldquoThere were no US casualties More information will be provided as it becomes availablerdquoA journalist on assignment for The Associated Press and several residents said they saw body parts scattered near the site of the raid a house in Syriarsquos rebelheld Idlib province Most residents spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisalsIt was the biggest raid in the province since the US assassination of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr alBaghdadi in 2019Thursdays target according to an Iraqi intelligence official in contact with the USled coalition was a highranking militant leader whose identity will be revealed later in the day by the White House According to the official he might be alsuccessor Baghdadis the current IS leader Abu Ibrahim alHashimi alQurayshi To avoid disclosing sensitive information he talked to AP on the condition of anonymityIdlib is largely controlled by Turkishbacked fighters but is also an alQaida stronghold and home to several of its top operatives Other militants including extremists from the rival IS group have also found refuge in the regionldquoThe first moments were terrifying no one knew what was happeningrdquo said Jamil elDeddo a resident of a nearby refugee camp ldquoWe were worried it could be Syrian aircraft which brought back memories of barrel bombs that used to be dropped on usrdquo he added referring to crude explosivesfilled containers used by President Bashar Assadrsquos forces against opponents during the Syrian conflictThe top floor of the house was almost totally destroyed in Thursdayrsquos raid with the ceiling and walls knocked outBlood could be seen on the walls and floor of the remaining structure which contained a wrecked bedroom with a childrsquos wooden crib on the floor On one damaged wall a blue plastic childrenrsquos swing was still hanging The kitchen was blackened with fire damageThe oppositionrun Syrian Civil Defense first responders also known as the White Helmets said 13 people were killed in shelling and clashes that ensued after the US commando raid They included six children and four women it saidAccording to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights an opposition war monitor located in the United Kingdom 13 people were killed in the hit including four children and two women A citizen journalist who visited the scene Ahmad Rahhal said he saw 12 bodiesThe Pentagon did not provide any information on the raids casualtiesAccording to the Observatory the military arrived in helicopters Residents and activists said they witnessed a largescale ground attack with US Marines using megaphones to urge women and children to fleeOmar Saleh a resident of a nearby house said his doors and windows started to rattle to the sound of lowflying aircraft at 110 am local time He then heard a man speaking Arabic with an Iraqi or Saudi accent through a loudspeaker urging women to surrender or leave the arealdquoThis went on for 45 minutes There was no response Then the machine gun fire eruptedrdquo Saleh said He said the firing continued for two hours as aircraft circled low over the areaTaher alOmar an Idlibbased activist said he witnessed clashes between fighters and the US force Others reported hearing at least one major explosion during the operation A US official said that one of the helicopters in the raid suffered a mechanical problem and had to be blown up on the ground The US official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of the military operationThe military operation got attention on social media with tweets from the region describing helicopters firing around the building near Atmeh Flighttracking data also suggested that multiple drones were circling the city of Sarmada and the village of Salwah just north of the raidrsquos locationThe US has in the past used drones to kill top alQaida operatives in Idlib which at one point was home to the grouprsquos biggest concentration of leaders since the days of Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan The fact that special forces landed on the ground suggest the target was believed to be of high valueA similar attack in Pakistan in 2011 killed bin LadenThursdayrsquos clandestine operation came as the Islamic State group has been reasserting itself in Syria and Iraq with increased attacksLast month it carried out its biggest military operation since it was defeated and its members scattered underground in 2019 an attack on a prison in northeast Syria holding at least 3000 IS detainees The attack appeared aimed to break free senior IS operatives in the prisonIt took 10 days of fighting for USbacked Kurdishled forces to retake the prison fully and the force said more than 120 of its fighters and prison workers were killed along with 374 militants The USled coalition carried out airstrikes and deployed American personnel in Bradley Fighting Vehicles to the prison area to help the Kurdish forcesA senior SDF official Nowruz Ahmad said Monday that the prison assault was part of a broader plot that IS had been preparing for a long time including attacks on other neighborhoods in Kurdishrun northeastern Syria and on the alHol camp in the south which houses thousands of families of IS membersThe USled coalition has targeted highprofile militants on several occasions in recent years aiming to disrupt what US officials say is a secretive cell known as the Khorasan group that is planning external attacks A US airstrike killed alQaidarsquos second in command former bin Laden aide Abu alKheir alMasri in Syria in 2017This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever