Libyan National Army announces killing of ISIS North Africa leader

BENGHAZI, Libya — The Libyan National Army (LNA) headed by General Khalifa Haftar claims to have killed the leader of the Islamic State (ISIS) in North Africa, Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi, in the city of Sabha in the country’s southeast.

Spokesperson for the LNA Major General Ahmed al-Mesmari announced the killing of al-Iraqi via Facebook on Wednesday, pointing out that the killing came during a successful counter-terrorism operation targeting an ISIS cell.

In his post, Al-Mesmari explained that another counter-terrorism raid was conducted on Tuesday in the Abdul Kafi neighborhood of the same city that resulted in the killing of nine ISIS members and the arrest of two of their wives.

According to the information mentioned by al-Mesmari, the real name of Abu Abdullah al-Iraqi is Abdullah al-Rubaie, who was a Kurd from Iraq. The firefight in which al-Iraqi and his men were killed lasted for seven straight hours, wrote al-Mesmari.