Airstrike kills senior IS commander: Iraq

Iraq’s Defence Ministry today said an airstrike by the US-led coalition killed a senior Islamic State commander and others near the extremist-held city of Mosul.

While the coalition said it conducted an airstrike there in the last 24 hours, American officials could not be immediately reached about the statement from Iraq, which has made incorrect claims before.

A ministry statement said the strike killed Abu Alaa al-<g data-gr-id="23">Afari</g> and others who were in a meeting inside a mosque in the city of Tal Afar.

It described <g data-gr-id="22">al</g>-<g data-gr-id="21">Afari</g> as senior deputy to the Islamic State group’s leader, Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

It did not offer a time for the strike, nor any specific casualty figures. It did offer a black-and-white video clip of an airstrike hitting a building.

A Defence Ministry official later told The Associated Press that the airstrike happened late yesterday. He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to journalists.

American officials could not be immediately reached regarding the strike. The US-led coalition said today it carried out a strike in the past day near Tal Afar, destroying “an ISIL fighting position and an ISIL heavy machine gun,” using a different acronym for the group.