The Iraqi Prime Minister said that personnel of the country's national intelligence service, working with coalition forces commanded by the United States, had killed the head of Islamic State in Iraq and Syria.

U.S. forces, in cooperation with Iraqi intelligence and security forces, killed a senior leader of the Islamic State in a Thursday airstrike in Iraq, U.S. Central Command said late Friday. Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifai,

US Central Command carried out an airstrike that killed Abdallah Makki Muslih al Rifai, also known as Abu Khadijah. Rifai was a top leader in the Islamic State (IS) whose exact position is in dispute—likely the group’s effective second in command or caliph.