Turkey has detained ISIS's new leader, officials sayhttps://t.co/81r1IXJfyO
— SHAFAQ News (@Shafaqnews) May 26, 2022
Senior Turkish officials said ISIS's new leader was captured in a recent raid in Istanbul.
Anti-terrorism police and intelligence agents detained a man they believe has led the militant group since its previous chief was killed in a US operation in Syria in February, the officials said, asking not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the matter.
Turkish news website OdaTV identified the arrested man as Abu al-Hassan al-Qurayshi without saying how it obtained the information. Previous reports have given a similar name for the new Islamic State militant group leader.
Bloomberg News couldn't independently verify the identity of the man detained by Turkish authorities.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been informed of his capture, the officials said on Thursday (May 26). He's expected to announce the arrest in the coming days, OdaTV said.
The officials said the terrorist leader was captured following lengthy police surveillance of a house where he was staying. OdaTV said police didn't open fire during the raid. Turkish forces have clashed with Islamic State militants at home and in neighbouring Syria over recent years, ousting the militant fighters from several towns near Turkey's border.
News of the detention also came as Ankara is signalling plans for a fresh operation into Syrian territory to confront Kurdish YPG forces backed by the US but viewed as terrorists by Turkey for their links to an autonomy-seeking militant group at home.
The YPG received Western support as one of the most effective forces fighting to dismantle the Islamic State caliphate.
| The Times of Israel adds: |
Officials who spoke on condition of anonymity to Bloomberg said the suspect led the jihadist group since its last leader, Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, was killed in a US operation in Syria in February this year.
According to a Thursday VICE report, Abu Hassan is believed to be Juma al-Badri, the older brother of the first IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi who blew himself up during a US raid in 2019. Al-Baghdadi was succeeded by al-Hashimi who also blew himself up during a February raid by US forces in Syria. A month later IS announced, “Abu Hasan al-Hashemi al-Qurayshi as an emir over believers and the caliph of Muslims.”
| Update from Rudaw at 12:25 p.m. ET: |
...formerly ISIS or ISIL, depending on your preference. Before that they were al-Qaeda in Iraq, as shaped by Abu Musab Zarqawi. They're really very devout, committing every atrocity they can find in the Koran and inventing a few more. They fling
Allaharound with every other sentence, but to hear western pols talk they're not
reallyMoslems....
(ISIS) presumed to be the group's leader was arrested in Istanbul, according to media reports surfacing on Thursday, but officials are yet to confirm the suspect’s identity.
The detainee is said to be a "leading" official in ISIS' ranks, and while it is unconfirmed whether he is ISIS leader Abu Hassan al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi, a top
Abu Hassan was declared leader of ISIS in March, a month after former leader Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi was killed in a daring overnight US special operations raid in Syria.
...Turkey's version of Mohammed Morsi but they voted him back in so they deserve him. It's a sin, a shame, and a felony to insult the president of Turkey. In Anatolia did Recep Bey a stately Presidential Palace decree, that has 1100 rooms. That's 968 more than there are in the White House, 400 more than in Versailles, and 325 more than Buckingham Palace, so you know who's really most important...is expected to address the reports in the coming days.
Pentagon spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday that the US was "not in a position where we can actually confirm that press reporting" when asked about the claims.
US forces killed Abu Ibrahim in an overnight operation on his house in the town of Atmeh, northern Idlib, and just east of the border with
...just another cheapjack Moslem dictatorship, brought to you by the Moslem Brüderbund...
on February 3. He went
kaboom!as US forces advanced on his property.
The bomb detonated by Abu Ibrahim during his last stand with US forces also led to the deaths of twelve others, including four children and three women, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights told Rudaw English following the operation.
Three years prior, longtime ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi died in a similar US forces raid in another area of Idlib. Baghdadi detonated a boom jacket after being cornered in a tunnel with three of his children.