![\"Terror](\"https:\/\/i.ndtvimg.com\/i\/2017-07\/isis-syria-wp-650_650x400_81499136432.jpg\"\/ "\\"Terror")
<\/div>\nHashimi, an Iraqi, was killed “in combat with enemies of God”. (Representational)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Beirut, Lebanon: <\/b><\/p>\n
The Islamic State jihadist group said Wednesday that its leader Abu Hasan al-Hashimi al-Qurashi has been killed in battle and announced a replacement.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the group said Hashimi, an Iraqi, was killed “in combat with enemies of God”, without elaborating on the date of his death or the circumstances.<\/p>\n
Speaking in an audio message, the spokesman identified the group’s new leader as Abu al-Hussein al-Husseini al-Qurashi.<\/p>\n
Qurashi refers to a tribe of the Prophet Mohammed, from whom IS leaders must claim descent.<\/p>\n
The spokesman did not provide details on the new leader, but said he was a “veteran” jihadist and called on all groups loyal to IS to pledge their allegiance.<\/p>\n
After a meteoric rise in Iraq and Syria in 2014 that saw it conquer vast swathes of territory, IS saw its self-proclaimed “caliphate” collapse under a wave of offensives.<\/p>\n
It was defeated in Iraq in 2017 and in Syria two years later, but sleeper cells of the Sunni Muslim extremist group still carry out attacks in both countries.<\/p>\n
IS’s previous leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Qurashi, was killed in February this year in a US raid in Idlib province in northern Syria.<\/p>\n
His predecessor Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed, also in Idlib, in October 2019.<\/p>\n
Hassan Hassan, who authored a book on IS, said one “unprecedented” but possible scenario was that the Hashimi “was killed ‘accidentally’ during a raid or fighting without him being known to whoever killed him”.<\/p>\n
In October this year, US forces killed a “senior” IS member in a pre-dawn raid in northeastern Syria, the US military’s Central Command said at the time.<\/p>\n
It said a later air strike had killed two other senior IS members.<\/p>\n
The US leads a military coalition battling IS in Syria.<\/p>\n
In July, the Pentagon said it had killed Syria’s top IS jihadist in a drone strike in the north of the country.<\/p>\n
US Central Command said he had been “one of the top five” IS leaders.<\/p>\n
Turkey in September said security forces had arrested a “senior executive” of IS known as Abu Zeyd, whose real name was Bashar Khattab Ghazal al-Sumaidai.<\/p>\n
Turkish media said there were some indications Sumaidai might have been the IS leader.<\/p>\n
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n