Influential jihadists said that Sufyan al Maghribi, a Moroccan who served as al Qaeda’s military chief in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and Umar al Talib, a propagandist who narrated videos for As Sahab, have been killed in airstrikes.
Five AQAP fighters, including a Saudi and an individual who shares the nom de guerre of al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula’s emir for Mahfad, are reported to have been killed in the first drone strike since mid-August.
Qaraqosh, as well as Tal Kayf, Bartella, and Karamlesh, fell to the Islamic State after Kurdish Peshmerga abandoned the towns without a fight.
Abu Yusuf al Masri, a leader in Albu Kamal, swore allegiance to a senior “Chechen” commander in the Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham. The move could strengthen ISIS’ hold on the Iraq-Syrian border.
The video shows several police and armored military vehicles that are abandoned, burning, or torched, and large numbers of Islamic State of Iraq and the Sham fighters moving on the streets.
A local Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula commander known as Jafar al Shabwani is said to have been killed in a strike in the AQAP stronghold of Wadi Abida.
Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula released a eulogy for the fallen emir of Mahfad, Ali bin Lakraa’ al Kazimi al Awlaki, who was killed by a US drone strike in late April.
A bomb expert from the Russian Republic of Dagestan was also reported to have been killed during the Yemeni military offensive in the south.
