Strike Kills IS Chief Linked To Paris Attacks

Mouadan was one of 10 IS leaders killed by the US-led coaltion in Syria in the past month in a number of air strikes.

The U.S. military says an Islamic State (IS) leader with direct links to the alleged ringleader of last month’s terrorist attacks in Paris was killed in a coalition airstrike in Syria.

He named one as Charaffe al-Mouadan, who he said had a direct link to Paris attack cell leader Abdelhamid Abaaoud.

Mouadan had been actively plotting further attacks against the West, Warren said, without giving additional details.

“Part of those successes is attributable to the fact that the organisation is losing its leadership”, Warren said.

■ Yunish Khalash, also known as Abu Jawdat, killed December 9.

“We will hunt ISIL leaders working to inspire attacks against USA and our allies”, Warren said on his official Twitter account. At least eight militants, several of whom were trained by ISIS, massacred 130 people in the city the night of November 13, descending upon cafes, restaurants and other scenes of Parisian nightlife, using semi-automatic weapons and suicide vests.

Washington said the strikes were weakening the extremist group, which captured swaths of Iraq and Syria past year but has suffered a string of setbacks in recent weeks.

– Khalil Ahmad Ali al-Wais, the IS “emir of Kirkuk province” in Iraq.

The U.S. has targeted ISIS commanders and operatives, including those believed to be involved in planning attacks against the West. In addition to Mr. Mouadan, U.S. airstrikes killed another ISIS external-operations facilitator in Mosul on December 26.

On the same day U.S. forces also killed the deputy governor of Kirkuk, Mithaq Najim, effectively crippling the terrorists’ administration structure in the area.

– Rawand Dilsher Taher, an “external operations facilitator”, who was killed near Raqa.

Warren’s announcement came as Belgian authorities said they had arrested two men in connection with a suspected plot involving attacks during the holiday season in Brussels. Iraqi troops have retaken much of the city of Ramadi from ISIS, as The Two-Way has reported.

Another was said to be a Bangladeshi man who was educated in Britain and worked as a hacker for the terrorist organisation.

Siful Haque Sujan, a British trained computer expert, was blasted in an airstrike the very next day.