A senior leader of the jihadist group Islamic State (IS) has been captured in an overnight raid in Syria according to US-led coalition forces. The leader’s name was Hani Ahmed al-Kurdi and the coalition stated he was an experienced bomb maker and operational facilitator.
Troops arrived in two helicopters in al-Humayra in the Aleppo province close to Syria’s border with Turkey. There were seven minutes of conflict between the people inside the village and the troops before the helicopters flew off. The troops then landed at a base in the Kobane region in eastern Aleppo province, which is controlled by rebel factions backed by Turkey. A resident of al-Humayra said a house on the edge of the village was raided and they took one man with them. The coalition said the mission was successful and no civilians were harmed. The captured man is the governor of Raqqa, a city east of Aleppo that is the de facto capital of the caliphate, proclaimed by IS in 2014. The UN estimates IS still has between 6,000 and 10,000 fighters in Syria and Iraq who carry out attacks.
Read more: US-led coalition capture senior IS leader in north Syria raid