The Islamic State’s official spokesman Abu Mohammed
al-Adnani recently recognized the death of Abu Muslim al-Turkmani the second in
command of the organization. Turkmani reportedly died twice before so when the
United States said they had killed him a third time in August 2015 it had to be
taken with a grain of salt. Now that his death has been confirmed it marks a
significant loss for IS and its institutional know how.
On October 13,
2015 Abu Mohammed al-Adnani, the Islamic State’s official spokesman released a
new audio recording in which he acknowledged the death of Abu Muslim
al-Turkmani, also known as Haji Mutazz, whose real name was Fadel Ahmad
al-Hayali. IS and other jihadi groups usually confirm the death of their top
leaders so that eulogies and memorials can be issued to rally their base.
The U.S. originally announced the death of Turkmani back in August
2015. On August 18 the National Security Council issued a statement saying
that Turkmani was killed in a drone strike while he was driving in a car
outside of Mosul. The Americans must have been tracking his movements and
gotten some actionable intelligence to carry out the attack and release details
of his death.
The problem was this was the third time that Turkmani was
allegedly killed. In December 2014 the Americans said that he had died in
northern Iraq, and then in February 2015 the Iraqi press reported that the U.S.
had killed him again. With that kind of history it was hard to take his third
passing at face value.
Now that his death has been confirmed it marks a decided
loss for the Islamic State. Turkmani was one of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s top two
deputies. He was allegedly the head of the Islamic state’s military council, a
member of its Shura and Provincial Councils and was in charge of Iraq. There were
also reports that he was involved in finances too. He was also one of many top
leaders in IS with a military background having served as a lieutenant colonel
in Saddam’s intelligence service and in the Special Forces. He probably helped
plan the organization’s comeback in Iraq and the seizure of Mosul. His passing
was a real setback in knowledge and experience for the organization.
SOURCES
Shafaq News, “Al Adnani confirms the second in command of
Daash killed,” 10/13/15
No comments:
Post a Comment