Ayad al-Jumaili, believed to be a deputy of ISIL leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, was killed in an air strike on Friday, an Iraqi intelligence spokesman said on Saturday.
The U.S.-led anti-ISIL coalition said it was unable at the moment to confirm the information that was reported earlier in the day by Iraqi state-run TV.
Jumaili was killed with other ISIL commanders in a strike carried out by the Iraqi air force in the region of al-Qaim, near the border with Syria, a military intelligence spokesman told Reuters.
“The air force’s planes executed with accuracy a strike on the headquarters of ISIL in al-Qaim .. resulting in the killing of ISIL’s second-in-command…Ayad al-Jumaili, alias Abu Yahya, the war minister,” state TV said earlier, citing a statement from the directorate of military intelligence.
