U.S. Officials: ISIS' 2nd In Command Killed By U.S. Special Forces
WASHINGTON (CBSNewYork/AP) - U.S. officials say a senior Islamic State leader has been killed, marking a further erosion of top leadership in the militant group in Syria and Iraq.
Abd al-Rahman Mustafa al-Qaduli, also known as Abou Ala al-Aafri and Haji Imam, was a senior member of ISIS, and was a founding member of al Qaeda in Iraq, CBS News reported. There was a $7 million reward for information that lead to his capture or killing.
Defense Secretary Ash Carter wouldn't confirm where al-Qaduli was killed or how.
Al-Qaduli had been considered a possible successor to ISIS' top leader Abu Bakr Al-Baghdadi, in the event of his capture or killing, according to CBS News.
"Leaders can be replaced. However, these leaders have been around for a long time. They are senior, they are experienced," Carter told a Pentagon news conference.
U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) was in Rochester at the time of Carter's announcement. He remarked on the developments to WCBS 880.
"To take out the top leadership of ISIS as we've done today is a great, great sign that we can beat them, and we'll do the same thing to them that we did with al-Qaeda where more than 95 percent of the top al-Qaeda leadership was taken out," Schumer said.
But Schumer said there is still a lot of monitoring to be done.
"It also means making sure that we keep careful monitoring here at home," Schumer said. "There are many fewer people who traveled to Syria and fought with ISIS and came to the U.S. than came to Belgium or France, but we have to keep a careful eye on them."
News of the killing comes after ISIS claimed responsibility for terror attacks in Brussels.
The U.S. military has killed numerous Islamic State leaders in recent months. Earlier this month the Pentagon said it killed Omar al-Shishani, described as the Islamic State's "minister of war,'' in an airstrike in Syria. In November, the Pentagon said an airstrike in Libya killed Abu Nabil, another top IS
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