Key ISIS Leader Omar Shishani Confirmed Dead

The Pentagon has announced that one of the Islamic State’s (IS) top military commanders, Omar al-Shishani, was the target of a recent airstrike. An IS news outlet has confirmed the commander’s death.

Also known as Omar the Chechen, al-Shishani was identifiable by his red beard and was considered by U.S. officials to be an unofficial IS defense minister.

He was also believed to be one of the most experienced tacticians and fighters in the terrorist network, according to Yahoo News.

The Chechen was also allegedly a close adviser to the IS figurehead Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. In 2015, U.S. officials had offered $5 million for his capture or death.

On July 14, Pentagon press secretary Peter Cook stated that the U.S. had conducted an airstrike against al-Shishani four days earlier but had yet to confirm his demise.

“We believe this was a successful strike but we are not in a position to be able to confirm that he was killed,” Cook said.

The U.S. had declared Omar the Chechen dead after a March 2016 airstrike, announcing that he had been successfully targeted and killed. Cook admitted that U.S. officials had recently discovered that they had been mistaken, according to Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty.

U.S. intelligence determined that al-Shishani would be attending a meeting with 16 other IS leaders on July 10. An airstrike was ordered on the meeting, which was held outside of Mosul, an IS stronghold in Iraq.

While Cook stressed that U.S. officials had yet to officially determine whether or not al-Shishani had been killed, the IS-run news agency known as Amaq had already confirmed his death on July 13, according to the BBC.

“Military source to Amaq Agency: Shayk Umar ash-Shishani martyred in Shirqat as he participated in clashes to repel the campaign against the city of Mosul,” the IS-run newsfeed stated.

While the Amaq announcement gives a conflicting account of how al-Shishani died, the IS news outlet appears to confirm that the Chechen is the latest IS commander to be taken off the board.

Sources: AFP via Yahoo News, BBC, Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty / Photo credit: Social Networks/Radio Free Europe Radio Liberty