BAGHDAD: Iraqi authorities said Saturday the second-in-command of the IS terrorist group was killed in an airstrike in western Iraq.
In a televised statement, the Iraqi Air Force Command said Abu Yahya, IS's war minister, was killed along with two other group leaders in the strike that targeted a IS site in al-Qaem town in the western Anbar province.
There was no comment from IS on the claim.
In February, Iraqi ground forces -- backed by U.S.-led coalition air power -- began fresh operations aimed at ousting IS militants from western Mosul, the terrorist group’s last bastion in northern Iraq.
The offensive is part of a wider campaign launched last October to retake the entire city, which IS overran in mid-2014.
