US, Russia claim credit as IS spokesman killed in Syria

Beirut, Aug 31 (AFP) Islamic State group spokesman and topstrategist Abu Mohamed al-Adnani has been killed in Syria, thegroup said, with both Washington and Moscow claiming credit. Adnani was IS’s propaganda chief, top recruiter and thereported mastermind of a string of IS-claimed attacks in theWest. In Washington, the Pentagon said US-led coalition forceshad targeted Adnani in an air strike in Syria’s Aleppoprovince yesterday but did not immediately confirm his death. Russia’s military said one of its air strikes had killedAdnani in a bombing raid yesterday that left up to 40 ISjihadists dead – a claim dismissed by US officials as "ajoke". Regardless of who was responsible, analysts say his deathwill be a major bow to IS, which has suffered a series ofsetbacks this year including territorial losses in Syria andIraq and the killings of other top figures. Adnani was "the most viscerally aggressive ISIS leader inthe public eye," said Charles Lister, a senior fellow at theMiddle East Institute, using one of several names for IS. "Without his explosive voice, ISIS may find it hard toinspire the intense levels of violence that it has managed toinspire of late." Adnani, a Syrian born in 1977, was one of IS’s mostrecognised leaders, at the heart of a sophisticated propagandaand recruitment machine that produced slick videos andsustained a huge social media presence. He was reported to have been involved in organising aseries of high-profile IS attacks abroad that killed hundreds,including in Paris, Brussels and Istanbul. The IS-affiliated Amaq news agency announced Adnani’sdeath late yesterday, saying he "was martyred while surveyingoperations to repel the military campaigns against Aleppo" innorthern Syria. Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook said US-led coalition forceshad "conducted a precision strike" targeting Adnani near theIS-held town of Al-Bab in Syria’s northern Aleppo province. "We are still assessing the results of the strike butAdnani’s removal from the battlefield would mark anothersignificant blow to ISIL," he said. Adnani "served as principal architect of ISIL’s externaloperations and as ISIL’s chief spokesman," Cook said. (AFP)ABH