The spokesperson and No. 2 leader of the Da’esh (ISIS) terrorist organization, Mohammad al-Adnani, was reported dead on Tuesday (Aug. 30) by the SITE Intelligence Group.
Al-Adnani was the No. 1 man on the United States “wanted list” of Da’esh terrorists to kill, and declared a “specially designated global terrorist” in August 2014. He was reportedly eliminated while “surveying the military operations” in Aleppo, Syria.
It is not clear whether he was killed by ground forces or in an air strike, however; according to The Keffiyeh Monitor, his death comes eight months after he was severely injured in an air strike.
In a statement uploaded to the internet, the terrorist organization threatened revenge against the “filthy cowards in the sect of disbelief, and the carrier of the banner of the Cross in it” over the death of its spokesperson.
The United States had offered a $5 million reward for al-Adnani, 37, who died in Aleppo, Syria and who was supposed to be able to step into the shoes of Da’esh leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi if he proved unable to carry on for some reason. Recently the group also lost its Number 3 leader, Omar al-Shishani, and its “finance minister” Haji Iman.
But al-Adnani, born in Syria, was best known for his charismatic international propaganda. A particularly virulent statement that launched numerous vicious terror attacks worldwide was produced by the Da’esh terrorist, urging Muslims around the world to become lone wolf terrorists in September 2014.
“If you can kill a disbelieving American or European — especially the spiteful and filthy French — or an Australian, or a Canadian, or any other disbeliever from the disbelievers waging war, including the citizens of the countries that entered into a coalition against the Islamic State, then rely upon Allah, and kill him in any manner or way however it may be,” he said at that time. “Smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or run him over with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him.”
The U.S. State Department Rewards for Justice Program had announced a reward for up to $5 million in May 2015 for information leading to his capture. Media reports earlier this month suggested he had begun to lead a special unit within the terror organization called the “Emni,” devoted to internal policing and executing operations outside ISIS territory.