US troops kill top “IS” leaders in Syria

The US military has announced that it killed three senior members of the so-called "Islamic State" (IS) during a rare operation in northern Syria on October 6.

The airstrike and helicopter raid are the first known US operations in territory held by forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Deutsche Welle.

The US Central Command (Centcom) spent more than 1,000 hours collecting intelligence on the targets to minimize the risk of collateral damage, officials said. There were no reports of civilian casualties.

A deputy leader of IS in Syria, Abu-Hashum al-Umawi, was killed by a US military airstrike on October 6 evening, Centcom said. The militant ranked among the top five most senior IS members worldwide.

Abu Mu'Ad al-Qahtani, who was described as an IS official in charge of prisoner affairs, was also killed in the same airstrike.

No US forces were injured or killed during the operation.

Moreover, on October 6, Centcom also announced it had killed Rakkan Wahid al-Shammari, an IS official known to facilitate the smuggling of weapons and fighters, during a pre-dawn raid in Syria's Al-Hasakah governorate.