A senior Islamic State (IS) group leader in Iraq and Syria has been killed in an operation by members of the Iraqi national intelligence service along with US-led coalition forces, the Iraqi prime minister has said.Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai, also known as Abu Khadijah, “was considered one of the most dangerous terrorists in Iraq and the world”, according to Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani.US President Donald Trump said “he was relentlessly hunted down by our intrepid warfighters”.The US Central Command (Centcom) said it conducted a “precision airstrike” in Iraq’s western Al Anbar province, which killed “one of the most important” IS members on Thursday.Rifai was the head of IS’s most senior decision-making body and was responsible for operations, logistics, and planning conducted by IS globally, the US Central Command said.He also directed a large portion of finance for the group’s global organisation, Centcom added.Posting on his Truth Social platform, President Trump said: “His miserable life was terminated, along with another member of ISIS, in coordination with the Iraqi Government and the Kurdish Regional Government. PEACE THROUGH STRENGTH!”Rifai was found dead alongside one other IS operative, Centcom said.”Both terrorists were wearing unexploded ‘suicide vests’ and had multiple weapons,” it added.Centcom and Iraqi forces were able to identify him through a DNA match from DNA collected on a previous raid where he “narrowly escaped”, it added.Gen Michael Erik Kurilla said Rifai “was one of the most important IS members in the entire global IS organisation. “We will continue to kill terrorists and dismantle their organizations that threaten our homeland and US, allied and partner personnel in the region and beyon …
