On Wednesday, the Russian defense ministry took credit for an airstrike that killed ISIS leader Abu Muhammad al-Adnani near Aleppo, Syria. The Russian defense ministry said in a statement that a Sukhoi Su-34 bomber struck Tuesday in Aleppo and “eliminated a large concentration of ISIS militants (up to 40 people),” including Adnani.
“Among those terrorists, according to the information confirmed through several intelligence channels, there was the military leader Abu Mohammad al-Adnani known as the spokesperson of [ISIS],” the statement reads. “Abu Mohammad al-Adnani was considered to be the second person in the ISIS after his leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and was notorious for appeals for terrorist attacks in the countries of Western Europe and in the USA.”
However, the Defense Department said a day earlier that U.S.-led coalition forces “conducted a precision strike” targeting Adnani in Aleppo, though he did not immediately confirm his death. “We are still assessing the results of the strike, but Adnani’s removal from the battlefield would mark another significant blow to ISIL,” the DOD said in a statement.
Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook told the press on Wednesday that the Pentagon has “no information to support Russia’s claim that it carried out a strike against Adnani.” He declined to speculate about whether Moscow was bluffing, saying instead that it may just be “a misunderstanding on their part.”
(Via BuzzFeed & Military.com)